TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1979 (3) TMI 26
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....he said firm determining its total income at Rs. 90,262 and observing further in the assessment order that the said firm was to be assessed as an unregistered firm. It had been granted registration for 1961-62. On 14th May, 1962, the said assessee had made an application for renewal of registration under s. 26A of the Indian I.T. Act, 1922, for the year under consideration. On 27th June, 1962, it had made an application in Form No. 11 prescribed under the Rules. By his order of the very same date, i.e., 29th March, 1967, the very same officer, viz., 13th ITO, B.S.D. (W), Bombay, declined to grant renewal/continuation of registration of the assessee-firm. Both the orders of the ITO, dated 29th March, 1967, are annexed as annex. 'A' to the statement of case. Being aggrieved by the assessment as well as refusal to continue the registration of the firm, the assessee preferred a composite appeal to the AAC. The grounds of such appeal are annexed as annex. 'C' to the statement of case, and ground No. 1 pertained to the refusal of registration whereas grounds Nos. 2 to 4 pertained to the assessment order. When the AAC heard the matter, he was of the view that one common appeal was not ma....
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....peal is not tenable, it would have accepted the suggestion made by counsel for the assessee to permit the assessee to file two separate memos of the appeals and to condone the delay in filing the same. It is from this order of the Tribunal and a similar order in the allied appeal by M/s. Hansa Agencies that the reference has been made to the High Court. Before adverting further to the points which weighed with the Tribunal, we may refer to the statutory provisions arising for consideration. Under the I.T. Act, 1961, the right of appeal to the AAC against the various orders passed by various ITOs is provided for under s. 246. The relevant provisions of s. 246 read as follows : " 246. Appealable orders.-- Any assessee aggrieved by any of the following orders of an Income-tax Officer may appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner against such order--... (c) an order against the assessee, where the assessee denies his liability to be assessed under this Act or any order of assessment under sub-section (3) of section 143 or section 144, where the assessee objects to the amount of income assessed, or to the amount of tax determined, or to the amount of loss computed, or to the sta....
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....s were required to be preferred and one composite appeal was not competent. Mr.Joshi also drew our attention to the decision of the Calcutta High Court in Fuel Supply Co. v. CIT [1965] 58 ITR 130, which, however, was a decision given under the Indian I.T. Act, 1922, and the Indian I.T. Rules, 1922. Before adverting further to the observations to be found in the above decision of the Calcutta High Court, we may briefly refer to the position under the Act and the Rules under the 1922 enactment. Section 30(1) of the Act of 1922 is comparable to s. 246 of the Act of 1961, and it is found that sub-s. (3) of the said section contains the legislative prescription which has been found contained in s. 249(1) of the 1961 Act. There is no material difference between the two legislative provisions, but the position is different when we go to the Rules framed under the 1922 Act. Under r. 21 it is provided that an appeal under s. 30 (of the 1922 Act) shall, in the case of an appeal against refusal of the ITO to register the firm or the cancellation of registration of the firm under sub-s. (4) of s. 23, should be in Form D-II. There is a residuary provision in r. 21 that in other cases not earli....
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....stration, it was incumbent on him to file a separate appeal in Form D-II and a composite appeal in Form B will not be justified in law. The change brought about under the new rules adopted in 1962 has already been noted. By reason of the change there is a common form, though it contains separate columns (parts), where the section under which the ITO made the order impugned in the appeal and the section providing for appeal therefrom have to be indicated. This, however, is not clearly indicative, in our opinion, of any intention on the part of the rule-making authorities or of the legislature that the two separate provisions cannot be mentioned in one part of the form and the position, as it appears to us, is totally different from that existing under the Act of 1922. Further, it would appear to us that merely because the appealable orders are separately indicated in separate clauses of s. 246(1) it would not follow that separate appeals have to be filed from each such order. Appealable orders do not appear to have been classified in the said section with an eye on the question as to whether one or more appeals is/are required to be filed, but they have been merely enumerated in th....