Strict filing deadline for voluntary disclosure declarations bars late receipt; postal delay cannot extend time absent condonation power.

A declaration under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Act, 1976 had to be actually filed or received within the prescribed cut-off date; posting it before the deadline was not enough. The court read the words "make" and "made" strictly in light of the limitation scheme and held that, because the Act contained no power to condone delay, neither the Commissioner nor the Court could extend time on equitable grounds or because of postal delay. The declaration received after the deadline was therefore invalid, and the refusal to condone delay was upheld.

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Issues: Whether a declaration under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Act, 1976 was valid when it was posted before the deadline but received after the prescribed date, and whether the delay could be condoned.

Analysis: The statutory scheme required the declaration to be made in accordance with sections 3 and 4 before the prescribed cut-off date. The words "make" and "made" were construed strictly, having regard to the object of limitation and the absence of any provision enabling condonation. A declaration sent by post was not treated as made on the date of dispatch or on the date it would ordinarily have been received; it had to be actually filed or received within time. In the absence of a power to condone delay, neither the Commissioner nor the Court could enlarge the period prescribed by the Act.

Conclusion: The declaration received after the deadline was not a valid declaration in time, and the request for condonation of delay failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ challenge to the Commissioner's refusal failed, and the impugned order was left undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes an absolute time limit for making a declaration and does not provide for condonation, the declaration must be actually filed or received within the prescribed period, and neither equitable considerations nor postal delay can extend that time.

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