Moti Lal vs Secretary, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Another

The petitioner was enrolled as an Income Tax practitioner on the basis of a degree of Bachelor of Commerce conferred upon him by the Commercial University, Delhi. On coming to know of this fact, the Income Tax Commissioner, Patiala, cancelled the licence of the petitioner. The grievance made is that, at the time when the petitioner sought enrolment, he did not conceal any fact and informed the authorities of the nature of the degree obtained by him and in these circumstances his licence should not have been cancelled.

The university, if at all it can be called an university, which granted the degree to the petitioner, has not been constituted under an Act of Parliament. It is only registered as a company under the Indian Companies Act, No evidence has been brought on the record to show that the degrees awarded by it have been recognised by any university or by the University Grants Commission or by the Central Government. Apparently, the licence was granted to the petitioner under a mistake of law and the Commissioner of Income Tax, while cancelling his licence, has only rectified an earlier mistake. He was well within his rights to do so. In any event, no injustice, much less manifest injustice, is shown to have been resulted because of the cancellation of this licence. In the circumstances, we cannot grant any relief to the petitioner. This petition is accordingly dismissed.