Penalty jurisdiction for concealment depends on the assessment order date, when penalty authority crystallises under amended law.

For penalty under section 271(1)(c) for concealment of income, the competent authority is determined by the law in force on the date of the assessment order, because concealment is identified and penalty jurisdiction crystallises only when assessment is completed. Applying section 274(2) as amended from 1 April 1971, the post-amendment allocation of jurisdiction governed assessments completed after that date. On that basis, the Income-tax Officer had jurisdiction to levy penalty where the assessment order was made after 1 April 1971.

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Issues: Whether, for imposing penalty for concealment of income under section 271(1)(c), the competent authority is to be identified with reference to the date of filing of the return, the date of initiation of penalty proceedings, or the date of the assessment order, in the light of section 274(2) as amended with effect from 1 April 1971.

Analysis: The concealed income in each year was below the monetary threshold attracting the jurisdiction of the Income-tax Officer after the amendment. The relevant point for determining who can initiate and levy penalty is the date on which the assessment is completed, because it is only then that concealment or furnishing of inaccurate particulars is found and the competent penal authority can be identified. Since the assessments were made after 1 April 1971, the amended allocation of jurisdiction under section 274(2) applied.

Conclusion: The competent authority was to be determined with reference to the date of the assessment order, and the Income-tax Officer had jurisdiction to levy penalty; the question was answered in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: For penalty proceedings under section 271(1)(c), the authority competent to impose penalty is determined by the law in force on the date of the assessment order, because that is the point at which concealment is judicially found and penalty jurisdiction crystallises.

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