Section 153A search notice sustained where authorisation linked the search to the company despite panchnama omissions.

Section 153A was held applicable where the search was initiated under Section 132 in relation to the assessee-company, even though the search was conducted on its directors. The court treated the authorisation warrant and surrounding material as sufficient to connect the search with the company, and held that the omission in the panchnama to describe the searched persons as directors was not conclusive. The expression "person" in Section 153A was not read narrowly to exclude servants or agents where the search was in substance linked to the assessee, and the notice under Section 153A was upheld.

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Issues: Whether notice under Section 153A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be issued to the petitioner-company on the basis of a search conducted on its directors, and whether such search could be treated as a search in the case of the company.

Analysis: The precondition for invoking Section 153A is a search initiated under Section 132 or requisition under Section 132A. The record showed an authorisation warrant mentioning the petitioner-company, and the omission to describe the searched persons as directors of the company in the panchnama was not treated as conclusive against the department. The word "person" in Section 153A was not given a restricted construction so as to exclude servants or agents where the search was in substance connected with the assessee.

Conclusion: The notice under Section 153A was upheld and the writ petition was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of Section 153A, a search can be treated as one in the case of an assessee where the authorisation and surrounding material indicate that the search was initiated in relation to that assessee, and a mere omission in the panchnama does not by itself negate that connection.

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