Age-based prosecution protection turns on the offence date, not complaint date, in foreign asset non-disclosure cases.

CBDT Instruction No. 5051 dated 07.02.1991 does not protect an accused from prosecution merely because he had crossed 70 years when the complaint was filed; the relevant date is the date of commission of the offence. Applying that principle, the Court treated the alleged non-disclosure of an undisclosed foreign bank account as referable to the earlier period when the account was opened and concealment occurred. Since disclosure and a revised return were made only after departmental action had begun, the instruction could not be invoked to defeat criminal proceedings. The complaint and consequential proceedings were therefore left undisturbed, and the petition for quashing failed.

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Issues: Whether the prosecution complaint under the Income-tax Act was liable to be quashed on the ground that CBDT Instruction No. 5051 dated 07.02.1991 protected the petitioner from prosecution because he had crossed the age of 70 years.

Analysis: The governing instruction states that prosecution need not normally be initiated against a person who has attained the age of 70 years at the time of commission of the offence. The relevant date for applying the instruction is therefore the date when the offence was committed, not the date when the complaint or proceedings were initiated. On the facts, the undisclosed foreign bank account had been opened in 1991 and the alleged concealment was linked to that earlier period. The Court also noted that disclosure and revised return were made only after departmental action had begun, and that the petitioner could not use the instruction as a means to avoid criminal process for non-disclosure of the foreign account.

Conclusion: The instruction did not bar prosecution in the present case, and the petition for quashing failed.

Final Conclusion: The complaint and consequential proceedings were left undisturbed, and the petition was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: For applying CBDT Instruction No. 5051 dated 07.02.1991, the decisive consideration is the age of the accused at the time of commission of the offence, not at the stage of initiation of prosecution.

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