Income-tax reference review is unavailable absent express statutory power; only clerical or accidental errors may be corrected.

A reference under section 256 of the Income-tax Act is a special advisory jurisdiction, and the High Court's answer is returned to the Tribunal for disposal in conformity with that opinion. Because the proceeding is not an ordinary civil proceeding, Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure does not provide a substantive review power unless expressly conferred by statute. The Court's inherent power extends only to correcting accidental slips or clerical omissions, not to reopening the merits of the earlier answer to the reference. A petition seeking substantive review was therefore held not maintainable and rejected.

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Issues: Whether a review petition would lie against a judgment of the High Court rendered in a reference under the Income-tax Act, and whether the High Court could invoke the review power under the Code of Civil Procedure or its inherent jurisdiction to correct the judgment.

Analysis: A reference under section 256 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is a special advisory jurisdiction. The decision of the High Court is forwarded to the Tribunal for disposal in conformity with that judgment, and any erroneous construction of the statute can be corrected only by appeal where available. The proceeding is not an ordinary civil proceeding governed as such by the Code of Civil Procedure. While the High Court, as a court, possesses inherent power to act ex debito justitiae and correct accidental slips or clerical omissions, that principle does not extend to exercising a review power where such power is not expressly conferred. The petition sought substantive review of the earlier answer to the reference and not correction of a mere accidental error.

Conclusion: The review petition was not maintainable and was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The High Court reaffirmed that its jurisdiction in an income-tax reference is limited to answering the question referred, and that substantive review of such a judgment is unavailable in the absence of an express statutory provision.

Ratio Decidendi: In a reference under the Income-tax Act, 1961, the High Court exercises a special advisory jurisdiction, and neither Order XLVII Rule 1 nor inherent powers can be used to review the judgment unless the application is confined to correction of a mere accidental or clerical error.

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