Concealed income cannot escape penalty merely because the assessee later seeks to revise the return after detection.

Penalty under section 28(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 is attracted where the return originally filed was deliberately false or concealed income, and a later attempt to correct it after detection does not cure the default. A request seeking permission to revise the return is not itself a valid revised return, because the Act recognises only a proper revised return filed before assessment and in compliance with statutory requirements of verification and completeness. Such an application therefore cannot defeat the penalty provision, and the concealment remains punishable despite the later attempt to amend the disclosure.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 28(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 can be imposed where the assessee, after his dishonesty had come to light, seeks permission to revise the return originally filed, and whether such an application can be treated as a revised return.

Analysis: Penalty under section 28(1)(c) is attracted once it is found that the assessee concealed income or deliberately furnished inaccurate particulars of income. On the facts found, the original return was intentionally incorrect and was sought to be corrected only after the Income-tax Officer had detected the concealment. A purported revised statement which is not made in the prescribed form and does not satisfy the statutory requirements of verification and completeness cannot be treated as a valid revised return. The Act confers a right to furnish a revised return before assessment is made, but it does not contemplate an application seeking permission to revise a return, and such an application cannot defeat the operation of the penalty provision.

Conclusion: Penalty under section 28(1)(c) was rightly held to be attracted, and the assessee's purported request to revise the return did not prevent the imposition of penalty.

Ratio Decidendi: A concealed or deliberately inaccurate return does not escape penalty under section 28(1)(c) merely because the assessee later seeks to correct it after detection; only a valid revised return furnished in accordance with the Act before assessment can have legal effect.

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