Mandatory service of notice of appeal can justify dismissal where appellate procedure under the Income-tax framework is not complied with.

In an income-tax appeal under section 260A, the applicable appellate procedure required the appellant to take out and deliver notice of appeal for service within the prescribed time. The record showed repeated non-compliance despite opportunities, and the affidavits of service did not establish due service. The procedural framework under the Code of Civil Procedure and the Original Side Rules treated failure to serve notice of appeal as a valid ground for dismissal, and the appeal was therefore liable to be dismissed for non-service of notice.

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Issues: Whether the appeal was liable to be dismissed for failure to serve notice of appeal in accordance with the applicable procedural rules.

Analysis: An appeal under section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is governed, so far as may be, by the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 relating to appeals to the High Court. The Original Side Rules required the appellant to take out and deliver notice of appeal for service within the prescribed time. The record showed repeated non-compliance despite opportunities granted by the Court, and the affidavits of service did not establish due service of notice. The Court held that both the Original Side Rules and the Civil Procedure Code treat failure to serve notice of appeal as a valid ground for dismissal.

Conclusion: The appeal was liable to be dismissed for non-service of notice of appeal, and the omission having continued despite repeated s, dismissal followed.

Final Conclusion: Non-service of notice of appeal in an income-tax appeal, despite repeated opportunities, justified dismissal under the governing procedural framework.

Ratio Decidendi: Failure to serve notice of appeal within the prescribed time, where the applicable appellate procedure makes such service mandatory, is sufficient ground to dismiss the appeal.

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