R.V.Raveendran J. - (1.) THE question that arises for consideration in this petition is whether the Commissioner can condone the delay on the part of the declarant in paying the tax in respect of the income declared under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997.
(2.) THE Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, 1997 (in short "the scheme"), introduced by Chapter IV of the Finance Act, 1997 ("the Act" for short), was in force between July 1, 1997, and December 31, 1997. THE relevant provisions of the Scheme are : Section 64 of the Act relates to charge of tax on voluntarily disclosed income. It provides for filing of a declaration in respect of any undisclosed income chargeable to tax under the Income-tax Act (as enumerated in Subsection (1) of Section ,64) in the manner provided in Section 65, between July 1, 1997, and December 31, 1997. Section 65 provides that a declaration under Section 64(1) shall be made to the Commissioner and such declaration shall be in the prescribed form. Section 66 requires that the tax payable under the Scheme in respect of the voluntarily disclosed income shall be paid by the declarant and the declaration shall be accompanied by proof of payment of such tax.
(3.) SECTION 67 enables the declarant to file the declaration without paying the tax, provided he pays the tax in respect of voluntarily disclosed income within three months from the date of filing of the declaration with interest. It is, however, made clear that if the declarant fails to pay the same within the three months period, then the declaration filed by him shall be deemed never to have been made. The said SECTION is extracted below for ready reference : "67. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in SECTION 66, the declarant may file a declaration without paying the tax under that SECTION and the declarant may file the declaration and the declarant may pay the tax within three months from the date of filing of the declaration with simple interest at the rate of two per cent, for every month or part of a month comprised in the period beginning from the date of filing the declaration and ending on the date of payment of such tax and file the proof of such payment within the said period of three months. (2) If the declarant fails to pay the tax in respect of the voluntarily disclosed income before the expiry of three months from the date of filing of the declaration, the declaration filed by him shall be deemed never to have been made under this Scheme." The petitioner claims to have made a declaration in the prescribed form (annexure A to the petition) on December 27, 1997, declaring an income of Rs. 5,25,000 for the assessment years 1989-90 to 1993-94. She did not pay the tax on or before the date of such declaration. Nor did she pay the tax within three months from the date of filing the declaration with interest as provided in Section 67(1) of the Act. She paid the tax of Rs. 1,57,500 (as calculated in the manner provided under Section 64) and Rs. 9,450 as interest thereon, in all Rs. 1,66,950 on March 31, 1998.;