INCOME TAX OFFICER Vs. ANIL KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ANIL Kumar, a partner of M/s. Ashok Steel Trading Corporation, G. T. Road, Khanna, was prosecuted under Section 276B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, arid he was convicted for the aforesaid offence and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 12,000 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana, on September 5, 1985.

(2.) IN appeal, the conviction was set aside by Shri P. C. Singal, Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, on the plea that the firm was not a juristic person and that the sentence of imprisonment which was also mandatory could not be imposed upon it. Aggrieved against it, the present appeal has been preferred.

(3.) ON behalf of the accused, attention has been invited to Modi Industries Ltd. v. B. C. Goel [1983] 144 ITR 496 (All), where the delinquent was a Corporation and it was observed that it being a juristic person could not be awarded the punishment of imprisonment. In the case now in hand, the delinquent concern was a firm which is a person "as defined in Section 2(31) of the Income-tax Act." As observed in A. D. Jayaveerapandia Nadar and Co. v. ITO [1975] 101 ITR 390 (Mad), there is no doubt regarding the criminal liability. ON behalf of the Union of India, it has been here argued that the provisions of Section 276B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as amended with effect from October 1, 1975, have been contravened. In Rishikesh Balkishandas v. I. D. Manchanda, ITO [1987] 167 ITR 49 (Delhi), as has been referred to by learned counsel for the Union of India, it was stressed that a firm maintained a legal entity for purposes of tax laws and, obviously, contravention of the requirement of Section 276B of the Income-tax Act attracted prosecution as well as punishment. The conclusion is that the appeal is accepted and the judgment of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, is hereby set aside. The accused is convicted under Section 276B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the quantum of fine of Rs. 12,000 imposed by the learned trial court on September 5, 1985, is hereby affirmed.