Revisional jurisdiction under Section 33B upheld; Commissioner may exercise revision even while an appeal from the Assessing Officer is pending.

Section 33B authorises the Commissioner to call for records and, if an Income-tax Officer's order is erroneous and prejudicial to revenue, pass a revisionary order where statutory conditions (including two year time limit and that the order being revised is that of the Income tax Officer) are met; the mere pendency of an appeal does not oust this power. Section 33A contains express appeal-related restrictions but no analogous bar appears in Section 33B; prior decisions imposing extra statutory limitations were rejected in light of controlling precedent. Operative effect: the Commissioner had jurisdiction under Section 33B to revise the assessment despite a pending appeal, favouring revenue.

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Issues: Whether the Commissioner of Income-tax had jurisdiction under Section 33B of the Income-tax Act to call for and revise an assessment order of the Income-tax Officer while an appeal against that assessment was pending before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

Analysis: Section 33B permits the Commissioner to call for and examine records of proceedings and, if an order of the Income-tax Officer is considered erroneous and prejudicial to revenue, to pass such order as circumstances justify, subject only to (i) not revising an order of re-assessment under Section 34, (ii) time limits of two years, and (iii) that the order to be revised is that of the Income-tax Officer. Section 33A contains express additional restrictions on revision where an appeal lies or is pending; no analogous restrictions appear in Section 33B. Prior authorities that read into Section 33B a bar where an appeal was pending were considered and contrasted with later authoritative decisions, including the Supreme Court's decision in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Amritlal Bhogilal & Co., which refused to impose extra-statutory limitations on Section 33B. Applying the statutory text and controlling precedent, the Commissioner's power under Section 33B is exercisable when the statutory conditions are met, even if an appeal from the Income-tax Officer's order is pending, and the mere pendency of an appeal does not suspend the Commissioner's revisional jurisdiction under Section 33B.

Conclusion: The Commissioner of Income-tax had jurisdiction under Section 33B to revise the Income-tax Officer's assessment while the appeal was pending; the reference is answered in the affirmative, in favour of the revenue.

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