JUDGEMENT
M.A.A. Khan, Judicial Member -
(1.)THESE four appeals by revenue and an equal number of cross-objections by the assessee are preferred against the consolidated order of the AAC, Baroda dated October 5,1987. By the impugned order the learned AAC has cancelled penalties levied by the WTO under Section 18(1 )(a) of the W.T. Act, 1957 (the Act) for late filing of the returns for A.Ys. 1970-71 to 1973-74.
(2.)On December 20,1974 there was a search at the residential premises of the assessee HUF wherein cash, ornaments and jewellery and the account books of the assessee HUF were seized by the Income-tax Authorities. Before any action, penal of pecuniary, could have been taken against the assessee for concealment of its income/wealth by the authorities concerned the Government of India declared a scheme, popularly known as 'Voluntary Disclosure Scheme'(the Scheme) under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income & Wealth Ordinance, 1975 (the Ordinance), promulgated by President of India on October 8, 1975 and published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1, page 665, dated October 8, 1975. The Ordinance provided for a scheme of Voluntary Disclosure of undisclosed income and wealth and offered an opportunity to persons who had evaded tax in the past to declare their undisclosed income and wealth, pay tax thereon on a reasonable basis and return to the path of civic responsibility in future. It was also aimed at securing canalisation of black money secreted by tax evaders into protective fields in the over all interest of the economy. By making a declaration of his income/wealth in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance a person could earn immunity from penalties and prosecutions under the relevant Acts on fulfilment of certain conditions, as laid down in the Ordinance and the Rules framed thereunder. It is gathered from the records placed before us that the assessee HUF, with a view to obtain benefit of the scheme under the Ordinance, entered into negotiations with the concerned Commissioner in respect of making declarations of his income/wealth. According to the assessee HUF its case could be finalised only on December 30, 1975 and as per settlement and agreement arrived at by the assessee HUF with the concerned Commissioner the assessee HUF agreed to declare its income/wealth right from A.Ys. 1967-68 to 1975-76. The assessee HUF accordingly made relevant declarations in respect of its income/wealth for the said years on December 31, 1975. As required by the provisions of the Ordinance the said declarations were duly accompanied with the relevant returns of income/wealth for the years under consideration.
In the returns filed by the assessee HUF for the years under consideration it had disclosed its net wealth for various years in Annexure A attached to the returns and which were to the following effect:
JUDGEMENT_736_TLIT0_19890.htm
(3.)THE assessee HUF had further enclosed Annexure B with his various returns and in the said annexure the assessee HUF had made the following statement:
As our case was finalised yesterday we were not in a position to work out current figures of wealth, so figures are given approximately correct. THE W.T. Return will be revised by us after getting the necessary figures from the Income-tax Officer as books of accounts are with him, and we have to arrive at the income-tax and wealth-tax liabilities. So we may be permitted to revise our return and oblige.
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