TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (2) TMI 10
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....dure and discharged them mainly on the ground that the notice issued by the revision petitioner under section 158BC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short "the Act"), is not a valid service. The case of the prosecution is that the search of the respondents' premises was conducted in the month of February, 1997, and seized cash, certain books of account and then issued notice under section 158BC of the Act to the respective respondents calling upon them to furnish the return of the income for the periods 1986-87 to 1996-97 within 45 days from the date of receipt of that notice. But the respondents failed to submit the returns even after a lapse of 45 days therefore the revision petitioner filed a complaint under section 276CCC of the Act, a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e seized from their premises. After seizure, notice under section 158BC of the Act was issued to them. On behalf of the respondents, the said notices were served on the respective chartered accountants of the firm. As per section 158BC the revision petitioner has granted 45 days time to the respondents to submit their income-tax returns for the years 1986-87 to 1996-97. In spite of that the respondents in all these cases have not submitted their returns. Therefore, the revision petitioner herein has filed a complaint under section 276CCC of the Act before the Special Court for Economic Offences, Bangalore. In this behalf learned counsel for the revision petitioner vehemently argued that though notice was served on the respondents through th....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....g him an opportunity but it cannot be said that the rule is so rigid that if, as a matter of fact, the assessee knows of the proceedings and the matter has been discussed with him then an adverse order would be invalid merely because no notice under section 63 was given." Per contra learned counsel for the respondents submitted that criminal proceedings have been initiated against the respondents in all these cases and section 158BC is mandatory on the part of the revision petitioner to serve notice on the respondents, since the revision petitioner has not complied with the mandatory provisions of section 158BC, therefore the trial court has rightly allowed the applications filed by them under section 245(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ice on assessee-Held, no-Whether, therefore, trial court was justified in rejecting criminal complaint filed under section 276CC-Held, yes." In the aforesaid case notice was served on the agent of the assessee and subsequently submitted a return showing a net loss of Rs. 20,930 and then a criminal proceeding has been initiated. Whereas, in the instant case though the notice was served on the respective chartered accountants, subsequently, the respondents acknowledged the receipt of the notice by letter dated January 22, 1998, in their respective letters, the respondents sought further time to submit the returns, that means that they had the knowledge about the service of notices on their chartered accountants. Therefore, the ratio laid dow....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e Act. Further it was held: "it is well settled that the power of attorney given to an agent should be construed strictly and from that power of attorney only such authority which has been conferred expressly or by implication, should be taken into consideration". In the aforesaid case the respondents herein have not executed any power of attorney on behalf of them to their respective chartered accountants to receive notice issued by the income-tax authorities or on behalf of the respondents. Since the chartered accountants who represented the respondents in the present case, though not authorised, received notice issued to the respondents by the authorities, and subsequently they ratified the act of the chartered accountants about the re....