Revisional power and taxability of post-death rent receipts were limited by the statute and no retrospective charge applied.

Wide revisional powers may be exercised suo motu unless the statute itself imposes a restriction, so the Commissioner could set aside the appellate order even without a revenue appeal. Arrears of rent received by a husband after his wife's death were not taxable as agricultural income where the deeming provision applied only to a deceased person who died within the relevant previous year, and could not be extended to later assessment years. The taxing provision was also not retrospective, so pre-Act arrears realised later remained outside charge.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Commissioner had power under the revisional provision to set aside suo motu the appellate order of the Assistant Commissioner when no appeal had been filed by the revenue. (ii) Whether arrears of rent due to the deceased wife, but realised by the husband after her death, could be assessed as taxable agricultural income, including whether such receipts related to periods before the Act came into force were taxable.

Issue (i): Whether the Commissioner had power under the revisional provision to set aside suo motu the appellate order of the Assistant Commissioner when no appeal had been filed by the revenue.

Analysis: The revisional power conferred on the Commissioner was expressed in wide terms and was subject only to the Act itself. The scheme of assessment, appeal, further appeal, and revision did not impose any restriction that revision could be exercised only when the revenue had first preferred an appeal. The absence of a specific bar, unlike the corresponding provision in the Madras Act, meant that the Commissioner could act on his own motion even though no appeal had been filed. The contention that departmental bias or the existence of an appellate remedy excluded revision was rejected.

Conclusion: The Commissioner had the power to exercise suo motu revision. This issue was answered in favour of the revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether arrears of rent due to the deceased wife, but realised by the husband after her death, could be assessed as taxable agricultural income, including whether such receipts related to periods before the Act came into force were taxable.

Analysis: The provision corresponding to section 24B of the Indian Income Tax Act applied only where the deceased had died within the relevant previous year and did not authorise taxation of receipts realised by the legal representative in later assessment years. The legal fiction could not be extended beyond its statutory limits to tax the husband on amounts realised after the death of the owner in years succeeding the year of death. Independently, the arrears related to periods long before the Act came into force, and the Act was held not to operate retrospectively so as to tax realisation of pre-Act arrears of rent.

Conclusion: The amounts realised by the assessee were not taxable. This issue was answered in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reference was disposed of by upholding the Commissioner's revisional power, but the disputed receipts were held not liable to agricultural income tax, with costs awarded to the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A revisional power expressed in general terms may be exercised suo motu unless the statute itself imposes a restriction, and a deeming provision for taxation of a deceased person's income cannot be extended to tax post-death receipts in later assessment years or to give retrospective effect to a taxing statute absent clear legislative authority.

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