Rectification of apparent error upheld where undisclosed income was assigned to the wrong assessment year

An obvious error in an appellate order, shown on the record without fresh evidence or detailed argument, may be corrected under the statutory rectification power and does not amount to review. The Tribunal had initially placed undisclosed income in the wrong assessment year, but the sale date showed that, in the absence of any option, it belonged to the previous year relevant to assessment year 1946-47. The supplementary order correcting the assessment year to 1946-47 was therefore competent and valid, and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

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Issues: Whether the Appellate Tribunal was competent to pass a supplementary order rectifying the omission in its earlier order and bringing the income of Rs. 26,000 to tax in the correct assessment year.

Analysis: The income had been found to arise from an undisclosed source and the date of sale showed that, in the absence of any option, it fell in the previous year relevant to assessment year 1946-47. The earlier order placing it in assessment year 1947-48 was therefore a mistake apparent from the record. A rectification under the statutory power to correct such an obvious error did not amount to review, and the Tribunal's action could properly be referred to that power even if it had described the order as supplementary.

Conclusion: The supplementary order was competent and valid as an order under the rectification power. The Tribunal was right in correcting the assessment year to 1946-47, and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Ratio Decidendi: An obvious error in an appellate order, demonstrable from the record without fresh evidence or detailed argument, may be corrected under the statutory rectification power, and such correction is competent even if the Tribunal labels it a supplementary order.

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