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2016 (10) TMI 549

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.... Assessing Officer of the searched person namely, one Kamlesh Dhanopia recorded his satisfaction on 28.8.2009 that such documents belonged to the petitioner assessee. On the basis of such satisfaction note recorded by the Assessing Officer of the searched person, the Assessing Officer of the petitioner issued the impugned notice calling upon the petitioner to furnish the return of the income for the assessment year 2003-2004. It is this notice, the petitioner has challenged on various grounds. Main ground of the petitioner however, is that the respondent authority had no jurisdiction to issue such a notice. Firstly, because according to the petitioner, no satisfaction as required under section 153C of the Act was recorded by the Assessing Officer of the searched person and secondly, that the materials on record would in any case not permit him to record such a satisfaction since no document belonging to the petitioner was seized during such search. 3. Appearing for the petitioner, learned counsel Shri J.P. Shah vehemently contended that the authority have not produced the satisfaction recorded by the Assessing Officer of the searched person in terms of section 153C of the Act. I....

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....son and that the Assessing Officer shall proceed against each such other person and issue notice and assess or reassess income of such other person in accordance with the provisions of section 153A of the Act. Under this provision, therefore, the first requirement would be of the Assessing Officer of the searched person to record a satisfaction in terms of section 153C of the Act that any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account or documents seized or requisitioned belongs or belong to a person other than the searched person. 6. In this context, we have perused the original files. This is not a case where no such satisfaction note was recorded by the Assessing Officer of the searched person. In fact, on 28. 8.2009, he had recorded that a search was conducted in case of one Kamlesh Dhanopia at his residence on 23.5.2009. During the course of search proceedings, certain loose papers were found in the premises which were seized. One such document was a computer printout taken from the books of accounts of the present petitioner maintained on the computer and, therefore, belonged to him. In view of such facts, he was satisfied that the documen....

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....d his stand to the Assessing Authority by filing an appropriate reply to the said notices instead of filing the Writ Petition impugning the said notices. It is settled law that when an alternate remedy is available to the aggrieved party, it must exhaust the same before approaching the Writ Court. In Bellary Steels & Alloys Ltd. v. CCT, (2009) 17 SCC 547, this Court had allowed the assessee therein to withdraw the original Writ Petition filed before the High Court as the said proceedings came to be filed against the showcause notice and observed that the High Court should not have interfered in the matter as the Writ Petition was filed without even reply to the show cause notice. This Court further observed as follows: "3....In the circumstances, we could have dismissed these civil appeals only on the ground of failure to exhaust statutory remedy, but for the fact that huge investments involving the large number of industries is in issue." 15. We are fortified by the decision of this Court in Indo Asahi Glass Co. Ltd. v. ITO, (2002) 10 SCC 444, wherein the assessee had approached this Court against the judgment and order of the High Court which had dismissed the Writ Petition....

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....instant case, the Act provides complete machinery for the assessment/reassessment of tax, imposition of penalty and for obtaining relief in respect of any improper orders passed by the Revenue Authorities, and the assessee could not be permitted to abandon that machinery and to invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution when he had adequate remedy open to him by an appeal to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). The remedy under the statute, however, must be effective and not a mere formality with no substantial relief. In Ram and Shyam Co. vs. State of Haryana, (1985) 3 SCC 267 this Court has noticed that if an appeal is from "Caesar to Caesar's wife" the existence of alternative remedy would be a mirage and an exercise in futility. In the instant case, neither has the assesseewrit petitioner described the available alternate remedy under the Act as ineffectual and nonefficacious while invoking the writ jurisdiction of the High Court nor has the High Court ascribed cogent and satisfactory reasons to have exercised its jurisdiction in the facts of instant case." 9. We are conscious that these judgements do not completely fetter the powers....

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....of AnnexureL is the copy of the ledger account of M/s B. Nanji Enterprises Ltd. in the books of accounts of Sunderdeep Builders, proprietory concern of the petitioner. It is a computer printout taken from the books of accounts of the petitioner maintained on computer and hence belongs to the petitioner. Hence as per the provisions of section 153C of the Act as the document belonging to the petitioner was seized during the course of search, the notice under section 153C of the Act was rightly issued by the Assisstant Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Circle2( 1), Ahmedabad and duly served on the petitioner. The assessee has challenged the legality of the notice on the ground that the notice does not states as to what has been seized from "AviratAdi Group" which makes the petitioner liable u/s 153C of the Incometax Act, 1961. In this respect it is pertinent to mention that as per the Act there is no statutory or legal requirement of providing along with the notice, the details of the seized material on the basis of which the proceedings u/s 153C have been initiated. However, the copy of the relevant seized documents were duly provided to the assessee during the course of assessm....