Binding precedent controls reference answers where earlier cost findings were already conclusively decided and affirmed.

The article explains that an Income-tax Officer assessing later years may go behind the original cost accepted in earlier assessments where the issue has already been conclusively determined by binding authority. It notes that there is no provision in the Income-tax Act allowing a party to withdraw a reference after it has been made to the High Court, so the reference must be answered in line with the existing binding decision. The discussion therefore treats earlier adjudication as controlling and requires consistency with the Supreme Court's affirmed position on the same question.

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Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer assessing later years was entitled to go behind the original cost accepted in earlier assessments.

Analysis: The reference concerned the same question that had already been decided against the assessee and had since been affirmed by the Supreme Court. The Court held that there was no provision in the Income-tax Act permitting a party to withdraw a reference after it had been made, and that the reference had to be answered in accordance with the binding earlier decision.

Conclusion: The question was answered in the affirmative, holding that the Income-tax Officer was entitled to go behind the original cost accepted in the earlier assessments.

Ratio Decidendi: A reference made by the Tribunal cannot be withdrawn as of right after it reaches the High Court, and where the issue has already been conclusively determined by binding authority, the Court must answer the reference consistently with that determination.

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