Section 131 summons must reflect genuine relevance review; blanket requisition for seized documents was quashed as ultra vires.

A summons under section 131 of the Income-tax Act calling for production of seized books and documents must rest on a bona fide consideration of their relevancy to proceedings under the Act. A blanket requisition for all seized materials, issued without the officer knowing their contents or applying mind to relevance for assessment or reassessment, is beyond the statutory power. The Calcutta HC held that the impugned summons showed no due application of mind and was ultra vires section 131, so it was quashed and set aside.

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Issues: Whether a summons issued under section 131 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, calling for production of seized books and documents was valid when the officer had no knowledge of their contents and had not considered their relevancy for the purposes of the Act.

Analysis: Section 131 confers powers for the purposes of the Income-tax Act, and the power to compel production of documents is controlled by the requirement that the documents must have a relevant nexus with proceedings under the Act. The Court held that the impugned summons, which sought production of all seized books and papers in a blanket manner, showed no due application of mind to the question of relevancy. The officer could not have known the contents of the seized materials, and the omnibus nature of the requisition indicated that the statutory power had been exercised without the necessary consideration of whether the documents were relevant to assessment, reassessment, or other proceedings under the Act.

Conclusion: The summons was beyond the scope of section 131 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and was liable to be quashed and set aside; the challenge succeeded in favour of the petitioner.

Final Conclusion: The impugned summons was invalid for want of proper statutory basis and due application of mind, and the petitioner obtained relief by quashing of the summons.

Ratio Decidendi: A summons for production of documents under section 131 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 must be founded on a bona fide consideration of the documents' relevancy to proceedings under the Act, and an omnibus requisition made without such application of mind is ultra vires.

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