1962 (10) TMI 89

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.... were made in respect of assessment proceedings which were initiated before the said provision came into force and those applications continued to be governed by the old Court Fees Act. A question has now arisen as to when the assessment proceedings could be said to have been initiated for the purpose of determining whether the provisions of the old Court Fees Act or the new Court Fees Act applied to the applications under section 66(2) and section 66(3) arising out of the said proceedings. It is urged on behalf of the assessee that the assessment proceedings are initiated when the public notice under section 22(1) is given by the Income-tax Officer or at any rate when the time given in the said notice for the filing of the return expires.....

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....a two-fold answer. In the first place they pointed out that for the lis to arise it was not necessary to wait until the assessment order was passed because a lis arose as soon as there was an assertion by one party and an opposition by the other, and although a lis could not necessarily be said to have arisen as soon as the return was filed, that, at any rate, invariably arose as soon as the Income tax Officer did not accept the return submitted and wanted to enquire into the matter by requiring evidence to be produced before him as to the correctness or otherwise of the return submitted by the assessee. This was a stage before the assessment order was actually passed and, therefore, for the lis to be in existence, the passing of the assess....

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....of his income before him for the purpose of making an assessment thereon. The contention of the assessee that the initiation of the proceedings should be taken to have commenced when the public notice under section 22(1) is given or at any rate when the time given in that notice to furnish a return of the total income expires cannot be accepted. No doubt the said public notice is the first step which sets in motion the machinery provided in the Act for inquiring into, determining, levying and recovering the tax, which is charged under the charging sections of the Act, but it does not start the assessment proceedings against any individual assessee as such. If after the publication of the notice nothing further happens, that is, neither the ....