Commissioner of Income-tax, Delhi v. Teja Singh

394 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. ### r95B his administrative capacity. It follows from this con clusion that all considerations flowing from the basic _Gullapalli_ idea of the proceedings before the State Government _**Nageswara Rao**_ d l h h JI f _and_ _011.,,._ being of a quasi-ju icia c aracter, are w o y out o #### v. the way. ·It must, therefore,' be held tha~ the order of _Andhra' Prade<h_ the State ·Government, impugned in this. case, is not _State Road Trans-_ open to any interference by the courtR. I would, there _port Corporation_ fore, dismiss the petition with costs. _**and Another**_ _**Sinha**_ _]._ _**November 5.**_ ORDER #### In view of the opinion of the majority the order ap proving the scheme is hereby quashed and a direction issued to the 'first respondent to forbear from taking over any of the routes in which the petitioners are engaged in transport business. This will not preclude the State Government from making the necessary enquiry in regard to the objections filed by the petitioners in accordance with law. The petitioners will have liberty to file additional objections, if any. The parties to bear their own costs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX, DELHI _v._ #### S. TEJA SINGH (T. L. VENKATARAMA AIYAR, P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR #### and A. K. SARKAR, JJ.) _I ncome-tax-P enalty-N_ _ew_ _assessee-F ailure_ _to_ _send estimate_ _of tax-Absence of notice_ _t-0_ _the_ _assessee-Competency_ _of_ _Income-tax_ _Officer to_ _levy_ _penalty-Indian_ _Income-tax Act, r922_ _(XI of r922),_ _ss._ _r8A(3), r8A(9), 22, 23, 28._ The respondent who had not been assessed to income-tax prior to the assessment year 1948-49 made _suo motu_ returns on July 4, 1949, showing an income of Rs. 4,494 and Rs. 31,646 respectively, for the assessment years 1948-49 and 1949-50, but failed to send an estimate of the tax on his income as provided in s. 18A(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922. The Incometax Officer took action under s. 28 read withs. l8A(9) of the Act and imposed a penalty on him for the years 1948-49 and 1949-50. **(1)** S.C.R .. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 395 The Appellate Tribunal held that the order imposing the penalty was _ultra vires_ on the ground that s. 28 would, in terms, ar;ily only when a person failed to furnish the return when he was required so to do by notice under s. 22 or s. 34 of the Act, and that there could be no such notices with reference to estimates of tax on income to be ·Sent under s. 18A(3). The High Court, on reference, agreed with the view of the Tribunal. _Held,_ that in view of the legal fiction contained in s. 18A(9) of the Act that when an assessce has failed to comply with s. 18A(3) he "shall be deemed to have failed to furnish the return of his total income and the provisions of s. 28, so far as may be, shall apply accordingly ", the failure to send an estimate of the tax under s. 18A(3) should be treated as failure to furnish return of income under s. 22. Accordingly, it was cori1petent to the Income-tax authorities to impose a penalty under s. 28 read withs. 18A(9)(b) where there has been a failure to comply with s. 18A(3). The relevant provisions of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922~ are set out in the judgment. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appca.l No. 122 of 1957. Appeal from the order dated November 4, 1954, of #### the Punjab High Court (Circuit Bench) at Delhi in Civil Reference No. 15 of 1953. _R. Ganapathy Iyer, R. H._ _Dhebar_ and _D._ _Gupta,_ for the appellant. _**C01n1nissioner**_ _**of**_ _**I**_ _**nconie-tax**_ _.v._ _1"eja_ _Singh_ _P. M. Mukhi, Gopal Singh_ for _Udhai Bhan Choudhry,_ for the respondent. _P. M. Mukhi_ and _Ganpat Rai,_ for Dahnia,Jain Aviation Ltd. (now Asia Udyog Ltd.) (Intervener). 1958. November 5. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by VENKA'l'ARAMA AIYAR, J.-This is an appeal against _Vcnk"t"rama_ tho judgment of the High Court of Punjab in a refer- _Aiyar_ _J._ cnce under s. 66(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, hereinafter referred to as the Act. The facts are that the respondent had not been assessed to income-tax prior to the assessment year 1948-49. On July **4,** 1949, he made _suo motu_ returns showing an income of Rs. 4,494 for the accounting year 1947-48 being the previous year for the assessment year 1948-49 and an income of Rs. 31,646 for 396 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. the accounting year 1948-49 being the previous year _Commissioner_ _of_ for the . assessment year 1949-50. By orders dated _Income-tax_ August 25, 1949, the Income-tax Officer assessed the v. income for the. assessment year 1948.49 a.t Rs. 6,277 _Teja_ _Singh_ and for the assessment year 1949-50 a.t Rs. 36,281. The correctness of these orders is not in question _Venkatarama_ before us. We are concerned in these proceedings with _Aiyay_ _j._ the _vires_ of an order, which the Income-tax Officer made on October 9, 1950, under s. 28 read with ### ss. 18A(3) and 18A(9) of the Act. It will be convenient to set out these provisions, so fa.r as they a.re material for the purpose of this appeal. Section 18A(3) provides #### that: _Venkatarama_ #### "Any person who has not hitherto been assessed ~hall, before the 15th day of March in ea.ch financial year, if his total income of the period which would be the previous year for an assessment for the finanqia.l year next following is likely to exceed six thousand rupees, send to the Income-tax Officer a.n estimate of the tax payable by him on that pa.rt of his income to which the provisions of section 18 do not apply of the said pi;evious year calculated in the manner la.id down in sub-section (1), and shall pay the a.mount, on such of #### the dates specified in that sub-section a.s have not expired, by instalments which ma.y be revised according to the proviso to sub-section (2)." Section 18A(9) is as follows: ## "If the Income-tax Officer, in the course of any proceedings in connection with the regular assessment, is satisfied that any assessee(a) has furnished under sub-section (2) or subsection (3) estimates of the tax payable by him which he knew or had reason to believe to be untrue, or (b) has without reasonable ca.use failed to comply with the provisions of sub-section (3), the assessee shall be deemed, in the case referred to in clause (a), to have deliberately furnished inaccurate particulars of his income, and in the case referred to in clause (b ), to have failed to furnish the return of his total income; and the provisions of section 28, so far as may be, shall apply accordingly:". **(l)** S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 397 Then, there is a proviso which imposes a limit on the amount of penalty, which can be levied. Section 28 of tho Act runs as follows : ## (1) "If the Income-tax Officer, ...... in the course of any proceedings under this Act, is satisfied that any #### person ( a) has without reasonable cause failed to furnish the return of his total income which he was required to furnish by notice given under sub-section (1) or subsection (2) of section 22 or section 34 or has without reasonable cause failed to furnish it within the time allowed and in the manner required by such notice, or (b) has without reasonable cause failed to comply with a notice under sub-section (4) of section 22 or subsection (2) of section 23, or (c) has concealed the particulars of his incomo or deliberately furnished inaccurate particulars of such income, he ... may direct that such person shall pay by way of penalty, in the case referred to in clause (a), in addition to the amount of the income- tax and supertax, if any, payable by him a sum not exceeding one and a half times that amount, and in tho cases referred to in clauses (b) and (c), in addition to any tax payable by him, a sum not exceeding one and a half times the amount of the income-tax and super-tax, if any, which would have been avoided if the income as returned by such person had been accepted as the correct income:". The Income-tax Officer held that as the respondent had failed to send an estimate of the tax on his income #### as provided ins. 18A(3) he became liable to be pro ceeded against under s. 28, and accordingly imposed a penalty of Rs. 40 for the year 1948-49 and Rs. 1,000 for the year 1949-50. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner confirmed the order in so far as it imposed a penalty for the year 1948-49 but set it aside as regards the year 1949-50 on the ground that by reason of the assessment for the year 1948-49 the respondent ceased to be a new assessee for 1949-50, and that, in consequence, s. 18A(3) had no application. Against the order cancelling the penalty for 1949-50, _**cc.m11zissionet**_ _**of**_ _**Jncomeptax**_ v. _Teja Singh_ _**V enleataranta**_ _Aiyar_ _]._ 398 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959) Supp. #### the Income-tax Officer preferred an appeal to the _Commissione._ _0_ Appellate Tribunal, which disagreed with the view of _1_ Ineome·t•~ _0_ the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that the respon v. dent was no longer a new assessee within s. 18A(3) of #### Teja Singh the Act, but held that the order of the Income-tax Officer imposing a penalty under s. 28 was _ultra vires,_ _**.VenAatarama**_ b h Jd J J h v. _**.VenAatarama**_ b ecause t h at section wou, in terms, Jd app J y on y w J h en _**Aiyar**_ _]._ a person failed to furnish the return when he was required so to da by notice under s. 22 or s. 34 of the #### Act, and that there could be no such notices with reference to estimates of tax on income to be sent #### under s. 18A(3). In the result, the appeal was dismissed. On the application of the appellant, the Tribunal #### referred the following question for the opinion of the High Court: "Whether on a true construction of Section 18A(9) (b) read with section 28 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, a penalty may be imposed for a total failure to comply with the provisions of Section 18A(3) of the said Act?" The reference was heard by Bhandari, C. J., and Falshaw, J., who agreed with the Tribunal that the conditions as to notice laid down in s. 22(1) or s. 22(2) must be satisfied even when action was sought to be taken under s. 28 in respect of a failure t-0 comply #### with s. 18A(3), and that as those conditions had not been satisfied, the order imposing penalty was bad. The appellant applied for a certificate under s. 66A(2) of the Act, and the same was granted, and that is how the appeal comes before us. The sole question that a.rises for our determination in this appeal is whether under s. 28(1) read with s. 18A(9) of the Act, it is competent to the Income- tax authorities to impose a penalty on a person who has #### failed to comply with s. l8A(3) of the Act. In answering it in the negative, the learned Judges in the court below w<o>re influenced almost exclusively by the terms of s. 28 which they held did not co>er failure to comply with s. l8A(3). Now, s. 28(1) provides for penalty being imposed in three classes of cases which are mentioned respectively in els. (a), (b) and (c). Clause (b) deals with cases where there has been failure. (1) S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 399 to produce documents or accounts or other evidence _z9_ _[5]_ _a_ which the assessee ha.d been required to produce under _Commissioner_ _of_ s. 22(4) ors. 23(2) of the Act, and that is not relevant _Income-tax_ for the purpose of the present discussion.· Then, there v. a.re els. (a.) and (c), a.nd they have reference, stating it _Teja Singh_ in plain language, cl. (a) to failure to make a return _Venkatarama_ and cl. (c) to making false return. Now, the learned _Aiyar_ _J._ Judges observe that if an estimate of the tax is furnish#### ed under s. 18A(3) and that is deliberately inac curate, that will fall under s. 28(1Xc) read withs. 18A (9)(a) and penalty could be imposed under that section, but that that could not be done when there is failure to furnish an estimate as required by s. 18A(3), because sub-s. (1) of s. 28 would apply only when a person failed to furnish the return when he had been required to do so. by notice under s. 22(1) ors. 22(2) ors. 34, or ha.d failed to furnish it within the time allowed and in #### the manner required by the notice, and that there could be no such notice with reference to s. 18A(3). Say the learned Judges: " In the first place, a person who fails to send an estimate under section 18A(3) cannot be said to have failed to furnish the return of his total income which he was required to furnish in response to a notice issued under section 22 or section 34 ; secondly, the said person cannot be said to have failed to furnish it within the time allowed and in the manner required by such notice, for, estimates under section 18A(3) must be furnished before the 15th March in the financial year immediately preceding the year,of assessment whereas the returns required by the notices #### under sections 22 a.nd 34 can be furnished at later dates." With respect, the error in this reasoning lies in this #### that it fails to give due effect to the fiction contained in s. 18A(9)(b) of the Act. Under that provision, when an a.ssessee has failed to comply with s. 18A(3) #### he" shall be deemed to have failed to furnish the return of his total income a.nd the provisions of section #### 28, so far as ma.y be, shall apply accordingly." In other words, by a legal fiction the faihre to send an estimate of the tax under s. 18A(3) is treated as a 400 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. ### '95 [8 ] failure to furnish return of income under s. 22. It is a. #### Commission., of necessary implication of this fiction that the estimate _Income-tax_ of ta.x on the income to be submitted under s. 18A(3) v. is, in fact, different from the return to be furnished _1'eja_ _Singh_ under s. 22, a.nd to appreciate the full significance of this fiction, it is necessary to examine what the dis_**Venkatarama**_ _Aiyar_ _J._ tinction is. Under s. 3 of the Act, the tax is pa.ya.hie #### on the income of the previous year. A statement of that income can be furnished only a.fter that year ends, a.nd s. 22 enacts provisions as to when it is to be furnished in the assessment year. ·sub-sections (1) and (2) provide for notices being given and the assessee is required to file his statement of income within the #### period provided therein, and it is this statement that is termed "return". Section 18A(3), however, relates to the sending of a statement of tax on the income of the accounting year before the 15th day of Ma.rch of that year itself, and that statement is termed not a. return but an estimate, and quite rightly, because in the very nature of it, it ca.n only be that. A person who sends an estimate under s. 18A(3) has also to send a return of his income for the accounting year under s. 22, and sub-ss. (4) and (5) of s. 18A provide for adjustment of advance tax pa.id under s. 18A(3) towards the tax as finally computed under s. 23. Thus, there is a clear dist.inction between a return .of income under s. 22, which can only be during the year of assessment a.nd an estimate of tax on income under s. 18A(3), which can only be in the year of account. ### It is in the light of this distinction that the effect of #### the legal fiction enacted in s. 18A(9)(b) that when a person fails to send an estimate of tax on his income under s. 18A(3) he shall be deemed to have failed to furnish return of his income, will have to be judged. The respondent contends that its effect is only to place the estimate to be sent under s. 18A(3) on the same footing a.s the return under s. 22 for purposes of s. 28, - and that that does not abrogate the other conditions #### la.id down in that section on which alone action could be taken thereunder and penalty imposed, and one of those conditions is the issue of notice under s. 22(1) or s. 22(2). But it must be noted thats. 18A(9) (b) does #### (I} S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 401 not merely say ~hat an estimate under s. 18A(3) shall _I958_ #### be deemed to be a. return. It enacts that the failure c -. -. t . d "th ISA(a) . t ommissioner of to sen d an es t1ma [. ] e m a.ccor a.nee WI s. IS - _Income-ta;r_ be deemed to be a failure to make a return. Now, v. there can be no failure to make a. return, unless notice _Teja Singh_ had been issued under s. 22(1) or s. 22(2) and there has been a default in complying with that notice. There- _Venk•tarama_ fore, the fiction that the failure to send an estimate is _Aiyar_ _J._ to be deemed to be a failure to send a return neces#### sarily involves the fiction that notice had been issued ### under s. 22, and that had not been complied with. It is a rule of interpretation well settled that in construing the scope of a legal fiction it would be proper and even necessary to assume all those facts on which alone the fiction can operate. The following oft-quoted observations of Lord Asquith in _East End Dwellings_ _Oo._ _Ltd. v. Finsbury Borough Council_ (1) may appropriately be referred to : ## "If you are bidden to treat an imaginary state of affairs as real, you must surely, unless prohibited from doing so, also imagine as real the consequences and incidents which, if the putative state of affairs had in fa.ct existed, must in~vitably have flowed from or accompanied it. One of these in this case is emancipation from the 1939 level of rents. The statute says #### that you must imagine a certain state of affairs; it does not say that having done so, you must cause or permit your imagination to boggle when it comes to the inevitable corollaries of that state of affairs." The fiction under s. 18A(9) (b) therefore that failure to send an estimate under s. 18A(3) is to be deemed to be a failure to send a return must mean that all those facts on which alone there could be a failure to send the return must be deemed to exist, and it must accordingly be taken that by reason of this fiction, the notices required to be given under s. i22 must be deemed to have been given, and in that v~}V. s .. 28 would apply on its own terms. \ Some argument was addressed to us based on the use of the definite article "the" qualifying the word (1) [1952] A.C. 109, 132. 51 402 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. ### i95~ "return" in s. 18-A(9)(b). It was said that that expres _Commissioner_ _of_ sion meant _the return_ which is to be furnished under _Income-lax_ s. 22, and that that requires that there must have been v. a notice issued under s. 22(1) or s. 22(2), before action #### Teja Siflgh could be taken under s. 28. In the view expressed above that the fiction enacted in s. 18-A(9)(b) involves the Venkatarama fiction that notices had been issued under s. 22(1) or A~r~ d s. 22(2), this contention oes not call for further consideration. ### It was finally argued that a fiscal statute and especially one imposing a. penalty, should be Btrictly construed and that if the words of the enactment be not sufficiently explicit to reach the subject, the Revenue must fail, and the following observations in _Vestey's (Lord)_ _Executors_ v. _Inland Revenue Commissioners(')_ were relied on in support of this position : "Parliament in its attempts to keep pace with the ingenuity devoted to tax avoidance may fall short of its purpose. That is a misfortune for the taxpayers who do not try to avoid their share of the burden, and it is disappointing to the Inland Revenue. But the court will not stretch the terms of taxing Acts in order to improve on the effOJ.'ts of Parliament and to stop gaps which are left open by the statutes. Tax avoidance is an evil, but it would be the beginning of much greater evils if the courts were to overstretch the language of the statute in order to subject to taxation people of whom they disapproved." These observations would be in point if the language of the enactment left us in any doubt as to what the legislature meant. But can that be said of s. 18-A(9)(b)? Its object avowedly is to assimilate the position of a person who has failed to send the estimate under s. 18-A(3) to that of a person who has failed to furnish #### the return under s. 22, and that object is sought to be achieved by enacting the fiction which is contained in s. 18-A(9)(b). And if, on the principles laid down in _East_ _End Dwellings Co._ _Ltd._ v. _Finsbury Borough Coun-_ #### cil ('), the true effect of that fiction is that it imports that notice had been issued under s. 22, then the conditions prescribed in s. 28 of the Act are satisfied and (1) (1949] l All E.R. II08, II20. (2) (1952] A.C. 109, 132. (1) S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 403 penalty could be imposed under that section for failure _r95B_ to comply with s. 18-A(3), on tho clear language of _Commissioner_ _of_ #### that enactment itself without straining or overstretch- Income-tax ~lli ~ We must now refer to an aspect of the question, _Teja Singh_ which strongly reinforces the conclusion stated above. _Venkatarama_ On the construction contended for by the respondent, _Aiyar_ _J._ s.18-A(9)(b) would become wholly nugatory, as ss. 22(1) and 22(2) can have no application to advance estimates to be furnished under s. 18-A(3), and if we accede to this contention, we must hold that though the legislature enacted s. 18-A(9)(b) with the very object of bringing the failure to send estimates under s. 18-A(3) within the operation of s. 28, it signally failed to achieve its object. A construction which leads to such a result must, if that is possible, be avoided, on the principle expressed in the maxim, _"ut res magis. valeat_ _quam pereat"._ Vide _Curtis_ v. _Stovin(_ _[1]_ _)_ a.nd in parti#### cular the following observations of Fry, L. J., at page 519: "The only alternative construction offered to us would lead to this result, that the plain intention of the legislature has entirely failed by reason of a slight ## inexactitude in the language of the section. If we were to adopt this construction, we should be construing the Act in order to defeat its object rather than with a view to carry its object into effect". Vide also Craies on Statute Law, p. 90 and Maxwell on The Interpretation of Statutes, Tenth Edn., pp. 236-237. "A statute is designed", observed Lord Dunedin in _Whitney_ v. _Commissioners of [nl,and Revenue_ ( [2] ), "to be workable, and the interpretation thereof by a court should be to secure that object, unless crucial omission or clear direction makes that end unattainahle". We are accordingly of opinion that it was competnnt to the Income-tax authorities to impose a penalty under s. 28 read withs. 18-A(9)(b) where there has been a failure to comply with s. 18-A(3). #### In the result, we set aside the order of the court below and answer the reference in the affirmative. (1) [1889] 22 Q.B.D. 513. (2) [1925] ro Tax Cas. 88, uo. #### 404 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1959] Supp. #### x958 The appellant will have his costs here and in the court #### **Commissioner of below·** _**ln,omeo/ax**_ _Appeal allowed._ v. _**-Teja Singh**_ _**V enkataram a**_ _**Aiyar**_ _] ._ #### • #### THE SPECIAL LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER, BANGALORE _**November**_ **7.** #### BANGALORE _v._ T. ADINARAYAN SETTY (JAFER IMAM, S. K. DAS and J. L. KAPUR, JJ.) _Land Acquisition-Principles of valuation-Exemplars,_ _use_ _of-Land Acquisition Act, I894_ (l _of I894),_ _ss._ _II and_ _23._ Certain land belonging to the respondent was compulsorily acquired by the Government for a maternity hospital. Most of the land consisted of building sites but there was a building on a small portion of the land and a portion was low lying-land. The Special Land Acquisition Officer held, on the basis of the value of sites previously sold by the respondent, that the market value of the land was Rs. IO/- per sq. yard and awarded a sum of Rs. l,41,169/- to the respondent as compensation. He did not give any compensation for the low lying land or for the building. Against this award the respondent raised an objection and a reference was made to the District Judge. The District Judge accepted the rate of Rs. IO/- per sq. yard as fair, reduced the amount of deductions for providing electric installations by Rs. lO,ooo/- and allowed a sum of Rs. 10,000/- for the low lying area at the rate of Rs. 3/- per sq. yard, thereby increasing the amount of compensation by Rs. 20,000/-. Not being satisfied the respondent appealed to the High Court. The High Court held that the rate of compensation for the land except the low lying portion, should be Rs. 13/8/- per sq. yard and for the low lying portion it should be Rs. 8/8/- per sq. yard. It further awarded a sum of Rs. 7,000/- for the building. In arriving at the figure of Rs. 13/8/- the High Court took into account only four sale transactions which had been made by the respondent at the rates of Rs. 12, 15, 14 and 7/8/- per sq. yard but did not take into consideration two other, transactions which had been made by the respondent at the rates of Rs. 6/8/- and Rs. 10 per sq. yard. . It calculated the average of the four transactions to be Rs. 12/2/ per sq. yard and then took a second average between Rs. 15/-, # ..