Summons under tax statutes require pending proceedings and clear jurisdiction; defective, unexplained notices are invalid.

Summons issued under the Income-tax Act and the corresponding Wealth-tax and Gift-tax provisions must disclose the statutory basis and be used only for proceedings actually pending before the authority. Blank portions left unfilled and inapplicable clauses not struck off indicated non-application of mind and made it unclear under which enactment the summonses were issued. As no affidavit or material showed pending proceedings or jurisdiction, the summons power was treated as having been exercised for an impermissible collateral purpose. The summonses were therefore held to be without jurisdiction and invalid, and the assessee's challenge succeeded.

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Issues: Validity of summons issued under section 131 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and corresponding provisions of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and the Gift-tax Act, 1958, when no proceedings were shown to be pending and the summonses reflected non-application of mind.

Analysis: The summonses were defective on their face, as the blanks were left unfilled and the inapplicable portions were not struck off, making it unclear under which enactment they were issued. The power to require attendance and production of documents under section 131(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the corresponding provisions of the other enactments, is exercisable only for the purposes of proceedings pending before the authority concerned. Such power is quasi-judicial and cannot be used for extraneous or collateral purposes. In the absence of any affidavit or material from the Revenue to show pending proceedings or jurisdiction, the challenge to the summonses remained unanswered.

Conclusion: The summonses were jurisdiction and invalid, and the challenge succeeded in favour of the assessee.

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