Section 22(4) notice remains valid after return filing where prior notice under Section 22(2) has been served.

Section 22(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 was construed as permitting a notice for production of accounts or documents even after an assessee had filed a return, provided a notice under Section 22(2) had already been served. The filing of the return did not terminate the statutory power, because the provision was read with Section 23(4) as covering distinct stages of assessment. The earlier view that the power ended on filing of the return was treated as incorrect. The absence of an express statement of the statutory provision in the notice was also held not to invalidate it.

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Issues: Whether a notice calling for accounts and documents under Section 22(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 could be validly issued after the assessee had filed a return, and whether the earlier view that such power ended on filing of the return was correct.

Analysis: Section 22(4) was construed as being attracted once a notice under Section 22(2) had been served; the section itself imposed no restriction that the notice must be issued only before the return was filed. Reading Section 22 with Section 23(4), the filing of a return was held not to extinguish the statutory power to require production of accounts or documents. The sub-section was read as contemplating distinct situations, and the mere words relied upon in the earlier decision did not justify cutting down the plain language of the statute. The absence of any requirement that the notice specify the statutory provision was also held not to invalidate the notice.

Conclusion: The power under Section 22(4) continued even after a return had been made, provided the foundational notice under Section 22(2) had been served. The earlier decision was held to be wrongly decided on that point.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice under Section 22(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 is not confined to the period before filing of the return and remains valid after a return is filed, so long as the statutory condition precedent of service of a notice under Section 22(2) is satisfied.

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