Voluntary return before assessment must be treated as valid, preventing escaped-assessment proceedings under the agricultural income-tax law.

A return filed after the general notice but before assessment must be treated as a valid return where the statute allows filing at any time before assessment and deems it to be in due time. On that construction, a voluntary return cannot be ignored merely because it was late under the original notice period, and escaped-assessment proceedings cannot be invoked on the footing that no return was filed. The provision was treated as in pari materia with the corresponding income-tax rule, so the assessment based on that return was not barred by limitation under the escaped-income provision.

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Issues: Whether a return filed after the general notice under the agricultural income-tax law but before assessment could be treated as a valid return under the Act so as to prevent recourse to escaped-assessment proceedings and whether the assessment made on that basis was barred by limitation.

Analysis: Section 19(3) of the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939 permitted a person who had not furnished a return within the time allowed under section 19(1) or 19(2) to furnish a return at any time before the assessment was made, and such return was to be deemed to be filed in due time. The provision was held to be in pari materia with section 22(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1922. Applying the principle already settled under the corresponding income-tax provisions, a voluntary return filed pursuant to the general notice could not be ignored and treated as if no return existed merely because it was filed after the time originally specified. On that construction, section 30 dealing with escaped income did not apply.

Conclusion: The return was valid and the assessment was not barred by limitation under section 30; the High Court's view was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute permits a return to be furnished at any time before assessment and deems it to be in due time, a voluntary return filed before assessment must be acted upon as a valid return and the escaped-assessment provision cannot be invoked on the footing that no return was filed.

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