- (1.) THIS order shall dispose of Civil Appeal Nos. 2251 of 2001 and 2272 -2291 of 2001 filed by the assessee -appellants (for short "the assessee") and Civil Appeal Nos. 2292 of 2001 and 2252 -2271 of 2001 filed by the CIT (for short "the judicature at Bombay in WP No. 2191 of 1999 and other connected writ petitions.
(2.) FOR the sake of convenience, the facts are taken from Civil Appeal No. 2251 of 2001. The facts giving rise to the present appeal are : Search of various premises of the assessee and its group was conducted (date not mentioned) followed by another one then stood on the statute, was passed estimating the undisclosed income of the assessee at Rs. 200.60 crores for the asst. yr. 1993 -94. The application filed by the assessee under s. 132(12) of the Act, as we are given to understand, is still pending. before the Settlement Commission for the asst. yrs. 1989 -90 to 1993 -94. This application for settlement was filed under s. 245C in Form No. 34B set out in Appendix II to the IT Rules, 1962, which is in two parts. While Part I deals with the nature and complexity and circumstances of the case, Part II deals with the statement of facts which must contain the amount of income which had not been disclosed before the AO, the additional amount of income -tax payable on the said income, full and true statement of facts regarding the issues to be settled including the terms of settlement sought for by the applicant, and the manner in which the undisclosed income has been derived, as a confidential document which is not disclosed to the CIT until the Settlement Commission admits the application for being proceeded with.
(3.) A notice was issued to the concerned CIT (the Revenue) who submitted his report under s. 245C(1) of the Act r/w r. 6 of the Income -tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Rules, 1987 (for short "the Rules"). The Revenue submitted its disclosing its undisclosed income at Rs. 1.94 crores. At the time of making the disclosure the assessee was not in possession of the seized documents as the same had not been supplied and, on the documents being made available to the assessee and, at the instance of the Settlement Commission, the assessee filed its revised confidential Annexure in the undisclosed income was raised by and not to Rs. 11.41 crores). It may be mentioned that in the impugned order the High Court (at p. 24 of the paper book) has recorded that after the filing of the revised confidential Annexure on 19th crores which, according to the Revenue, was a disclosure whereas, according to the assessee, it was conceded with a view to settle the matter and buy peace with the Department. The total disclosure of the group was raised to Rs. 17.03 crores from Rs. 3.59 crores. s. 245D(1) of the Act. The said order was not challenged by the Revenue by filing a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India. Pursuant to the direction given by the Settlement Commission, the concerned CIT filed his report determining the undisclosed income at Rs. 21.17 crores and another sum of Rs. 20.36 crores towards the incomplete works which were to be adjusted in due course, as and when the remaining phases of the work were accomplished. In addition to this, the assessee was made liable to pay statutory interest. Penalty of Rs. 50 lakhs was also imposed on the assessee. However, the assessee was granted immunity from prosecution. The Revenue filed a batch of 21 writ petitions before the High Court of judicature at Bombay out of which CWP No. 2191 of 1999 was treated as the main writ petition, challenging the maintainability of the application filed by the assessee before the Settlement Commission. These writ petitions of the Revenue have been allowed by the impugned;