Voluntary return under statutory notice: absence of proof of protest upheld the assessment and defeated the limitation challenge.

A return filed in response to a general statutory notice is treated as voluntary unless the assessee proves that it was filed under protest or compulsion. Here, no proof supported the claim of protest, the department denied it, and the return itself did not show any protest. The Court applied the earlier rule on voluntary returns and held that the assessment made on that return was valid; the limitation challenge therefore failed and the Revenue succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the return filed by the assessees was a voluntary return in response to the general notice under section 19(1) of the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939, and whether the assessment made on that return was valid.

Analysis: The Court found no evidence that the return was filed under protest. The plea of protest was denied by the department, was not supported by any proof, and was not shown on the face of the return itself. In the absence of proof that the return was involuntary, it was treated as a return filed in response to the general notice under section 19(1). The Court applied the earlier decision governing voluntary returns and assessments made on such returns.

Conclusion: The return was voluntary, the assessment was valid, and the challenge based on limitation failed, in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The appeal did not succeed because the assessment was upheld on the footing that the return was not shown to have been filed under protest.

Ratio Decidendi: A return filed pursuant to a general statutory notice is treated as voluntary unless the assessee proves that it was filed under protest or under compulsion.

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