Procedural tax amendment applies to pending assessments, validating notices and defeating the article 14 challenge.

Section 22(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, as amended in 1953, was treated as a procedural machinery provision governing assessment and not as one fixing substantive tax liability. The court held that the enlarged power to call for particulars applied to pending assessments, and the reference to operation from 1 April 1952 validated notices issued after that date even for earlier assessment years. The article 14 challenge failed because there is no vested right in procedure and the amended rule operated uniformly across pending matters. The notices were therefore valid and the constitutional objection was rejected.

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Issues: Whether notices issued under section 22(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, after the amendment made by the Amending Act of 1953 were valid in relation to an assessment year prior to the amendment, and whether retrospective application of the amended provision offended article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: Section 22(4) was treated as part of the machinery for assessment and not as a provision affecting the substantive liability to tax. The amendment enlarging the Income-tax Officer's power to call for particulars and information was held to be procedural in character, and procedural provisions ordinarily apply to pending proceedings from the date they become operative. The reference in the amending Act to operation from 1 April 1952 was construed as validating notices issued after that date under the amended form of section 22(4), even where the assessment year related to an earlier period. The plea under article 14 failed because there is no vested right in procedure and no discrimination arises when the same procedural rule applies equally to all assessments pending when the amendment came into force.

Conclusion: The notices under section 22(4) were valid, the amended provision applied to the pending assessment, and the challenge based on article 14 was rejected.

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