Statutory reference procedure: High Court cannot compel a case on legal points not duly raised before the Commissioner under the prescribed process.

The statutory scheme confines High Court intervention under Section 66(3) to questions of law that were duly raised before the Commissioner under Section 66(2); thus the court may not direct the Commissioner to state a case on legal points not previously presented and considered by the Commissioner. The principle applied prioritises the prescribed preliminary procedure, prevents collateral excavation of new issues at the High Court stage, and limits references to matters on which the Commissioner had an opportunity to form and express an opinion; outcome: no jurisdiction to require reference of unraised questions.

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Issues: Whether, under Section 66(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, the High Court has jurisdiction to require the Commissioner of Income-tax to state a case and refer for decision any question of law which was not duly raised before the Commissioner under Section 66(2).

Analysis: Section 66 provides a special, statutory procedure by which questions of law arising in the course of assessment are to be referred to the High Court by way of a case stated. Section 66(2) prescribes the procedure by which an assessee may require the Commissioner to draw up and refer a case, and Section 66(3) permits the assessee to apply to the High Court where the Commissioner refuses to state a case on the ground that no question of law arises. The statutory scheme confines the High Court's seisin under Section 66(3) to the specific questions of law that have been duly raised before the Commissioner and upon which the Commissioner has had an opportunity to express an opinion. Allowing the High Court, on an application under Section 66(3), to formulate and require reference of questions not raised under Section 66(2) would circumvent the prescribed statutory procedure, permit collateral excavation of new points at the High Court stage, and frustrate the deliberate preliminary requirements intended to limit such references.

Conclusion: Under Section 66(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 the High Court has no jurisdiction to require the Commissioner to state a case in respect of questions of law not duly raised under Section 66(2); conclusion against the assessee.

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