Assam Oil Co. Ltd. vs Commissioner of Income Tax

Dipak Kumar Sen, J.—The assessee prays for a certificate that he has a fit case to prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court against a judgment of this court in Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) Vs. Assam Oil Co. Ltd., . Learned advocate for the assessee has submitted that the following two substantial questions of general importance arise from the judgment:

" (a) Whether a decision of a High Court can constitute information within the meaning of Section 147(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, when the same is subsequently reversed by the Supreme Court ?

(b) Whether in a reassessment under the said Section 147(b), the Income Tax Officer can cover escapement of assessment not related to or connected with the information on which such reopening had been made or with any subsequent information which might have come into his possession prior to reassessment?".

In our view, the said questions are of general importance. Decisions of different High Courts relevant to the questions were cited by learned advocate for the assessee as noted hereafter:

(a) Al. Vr. St. Veerappa Chettiar Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, ; (b) Parshuram Potterv Works Co. Ltd. Vs. D.R. Trivedi, Wealth Tax Officer, Morvi and Another, ; (c) Karamchand Premchand Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Gujarat, ; (d) Madras Auto Service Vs. Income Tax Officer, ; (e) New Kaiser-I-Hind Spg. and Wvg. Co. Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Bombay City-III, and (f) R. Kuppuswamy Mudaliar and Sons Vs. The Board of Revenue (Commercial Taxes) and Another, .

The pronouncements in the above decisions do not appear to be uniform.

We certify that this is a fit case for appeal to the Supreme Court. Let a certificate be issued accordingly and let the records of the case be transmitted to the Supreme Court in terms of prayer (b).

It is recorded that the undertaking of the assessee, Assam Oil Company Ltd., now stands amalgamated along with the undertakings of other companies with the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Assam Oil Divn.). Let the name of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Assam Oil Divn.) be substituted in place of Assam Oil Company Ltd., the original assessee.

Ajit K. Sengupta, J.

I agree.