- (1.) The principal question canvassed in this case in whether certain sections of the Taxation on Income (Investigation Commission) Act, 1947, i.e. Act XXX of 1947 have become void from the date of the commencement of the Constitution of India by reason of Article 14 of the Constitution.
(2.) The petitioner Suraj Mali Mohta and Co. Ltd. is a company registered under the Indian Companies Act. Suraj Mall Mohta is also the managing director of another company Messrs Jute and Gunny Brokers Ltd. A reference had been made by the Central Government under the provisions of section 5(1) of the Act before 1-9-1948 of the case of Messrs Jute and Gunny Brokers Ltd. to the Investigation Commission appointed under Act XXX of 1947. During the investigation of that case which was numbered 831/30 in the records of the Commission, and during the investigation of some other cases similarly referred to the Commission, it was said to have been discovered that the petitioner company had made secret profits which it had not disclosed and had thus evaded taxation. On the 28th August 1953 a report to this effect was made by the Commission to the Central Government under the provisions of section 5(4) of the Act requesting that the case of the petitioner along with the cases of Suraj Mall Mohta and other members of his family may be referred to the Commission for investigation.
(3.) On the 9th September 1953 the Central Government referred these cases to the Investigation Commission under the provisions of section 5 (4) of the Act and these were numbered 831/64-69 on the records of the Commission. On the 15th September 1953 the Commission notified the petitioners that their cases had been referred for investigation and they were called upon to furnish certain material, as detailed in Annexure "B" of the petition, to the Commission.;