TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1961 (12) TMI 3
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....iefly stated. The first respondent-filed a complaint against the second respondent, his clerk, in the court of the Presidency Magistrate, Bombay, alleging that the latter had committed offences under sections 381 and 385 of the Indian Penal Code. In due course, the Magistrate framed charges against the second respondent under the said sections. Pending the trial, the first respondent applied to the Magistrate to summon the income-tax authorities to produce certain letters alleged to have been written by the second respondent to the said authorities making baseless allegations against the first respondent. On March 27, 1958, the Commissioner of Income-tax wrote a letter to the Magistrate admitting that some letters written by the second resp....
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....as confidential, and notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), no court shall, save as provided in this Act, be entitled to require any public servant to produce before it any such......... record or any part of any such record or to give evidence before it in respect thereof. (2) If a public servant discloses any particulars contained in any such......... record, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to six months, and shall also be liable to fine." The section is in two parts : the first part declares that all particulars contained in the documents described therein shall be treated as confidential, and the second part, save as provided in the Act, debars the court from requir....
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....ourt the documents sought to be produced were not the documents filed by the assessee but only a statement made by a third party, who was the respondent in that case. The attempted distinction of that case from the present one has neither a legal nor a factual basis. Nor can we accept the argument of learned counsel that the order directing the production of the documents was made under section 94 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and that that section is not hit by the prohibition under section 54 of the Income-tax Act. This argument is advanced on the basis that the non abstante clause in sub-section (1) of section 54 of the Income-tax Act only relates to the Indian Evidence Act and not to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The non abstante ....