TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (8) TMI 317
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....f the undivided State of Bihar. In or around 1995 or 1996, a major scam in the Department of Animal Husbandry was busted showing involvement of a large number of Government servants. One Dr. Shyam Bihari Sinha, a resident of Ranchi and senior functionary of the Department of Animal Husbandry, was the king-pin of the scam. Persons like Dr. Shashi Kumar Singh as well as the present appellant were also integral part of the conspiracy in the scam and were henchmen of leading conspirators like Dr. Shyam Bihari Sinha and others, and made hay while the sun was shining. The matter at the stage of investigation was being monitored by a Division Bench of this court on the criminal side as well as on the taxation side. A large number of employees of the State Government were, during the course of investigation, found involved in a scam of gigantic proportions. In such a situation, it was suspected that such Government employees like the present appellant and her husband had also disproportionate assets in theft hands. 3. The income-tax authorities under the Income-tax Act conducted a raid in the residence of the appellant and her husband which had gone on from September 27, 1996 to Novembe....
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....ure does not satisfy the mandatory requirement of section 132 of the Act and, therefore, further action is bad in law. He has in the same vein submitted that there was no objective material in terms of section 132 of the Act to ensure satisfaction of the authorities to conduct the search. He relies on the following reported judgments (i) ITO v. Seth Brothers [1969] 74ITR 836 (SC); (ii) Kavita Agarwal (Smt.) v. (DIT) (Inv.) [2003] 264 ITR 472 (All); (iii) Suresh Chand Agarwal v. Director General of income-tax (Investigation) [2004] 269 ITR 22 (All); and (iv) Union of India v. AJIT JAIN [2003] 260 ITR 80 (SC). 6. Learned counsel for the appellant has further submitted that search of the residential premises is an invasion on the privacy of the assessee and, therefore, the prescribed procedure had to be meticulously followed. He next submits that the procedure for assessment of block period is prescribed in section 158BC, and provides that limited materials may be taken into account for the purpose of assessment, inter alia, for the reason that this .is after the regular assessment has taken place. In his submission, the authorities have violated the prescribed procedur....
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...., as well as documents were provided to the appellant to put up her defence. He submits that section 158B (i) (sic) permits taking into account a large number of materials for the purpose of block assessment. He severely criticized unauthorised operation of the bank account in a situation where the authorities had prohibited operation of the same. 9. We have perused the materials on record and considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties Learned junior standing counsel has produced in a sealed cover confidential file with respect to the search and seizure. In view of the position that the file contains confidential information about other persons unconnected with the assessment proceedings in question, we have chosen to peruse the same by ourselves. We shall advert to the materials disclosed therein, if necessary. While admitting this appeal on July 25, 2006 this court had formulated the following substantial questions of law: "(i) Whether the three requirements envisaged in section 132 of the Income-tax Act was available for search and seizure 7 (ii) Whether, during the search any such documents were found for the block assessment?" 10. We would first ....
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....rising search should have been issued. Any irregularity in the course of entry, search and seizure committed by an officer acting in pursuance of the authorisation will not be sufficient to vitiate the action taken provided the officer has, in executing the authorisation, acted bona fide. 12. On a perusal of materials on record, we are convinced that the prescribed procedure was substantially followed. There were adequate materials for the satisfaction of the authorities to conduct search in the residential premises of the appellant. The persons so authorised conducted the search and acted bona fide and any minor irregularity in following the prescribed procedure does not, in the circumstances of the case, render the search invalid. The contention is rejected. The first question of law is accordingly answered in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee. 13. We now take up the second question of law formulated by this court. We notice on a perusal of the materials on record and the confidential file that a large number of documents were seized during the course of the search. The panchnama (the seizure document) was prepared and is on record. The same discloses that the ....