Chakravartti, CJ. - (1.) This Reference involves a short question of procedure hut it was said on behalf of the Commissioner of Income-tax that the question was one of importance.
(2.) It appears that the Income-tax Officer had to deal with the assessment of the assessee, Messrs. Sarkar & Co. for two assessment years, namely, 1945-46 and 1046-47.
(3.) One of the points raised by the assessee in the appeals appears to have been that its business was owned by a partnership and not by a Hindu undivided family. Necessarily, there was also an application for registration of the partnership under Section 26A, Income-tax Act. The Income-tax Officer held that before the assessee had made a partition within the meaning of Section 25A of the Act, the claim for the treatment of the business as a business owned by a firm could not be entertained and the claim for registration could not be allowed. The Income-tax Officer, who made that order was the Income-tax Officer, District III (2). Thereafter, the assessee preferred appeals to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and that Officer disposed of the appeals on 2-2-1950. It appears that, in the meantime, the assessment file had been transferred to the Income-tax Officer, Non-Companies (Income-tax-cum-Excess Profits Tax), District Calcutta, by an order of the Commissioner made under Section 5(5), read with Section 5(7)(a) of the Act. That order was made on 1-10-1948. It will thus appear that even during the hearing of the appeals before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, the Income-tax Officer in charge of the assessment file was no longer the Income-tax Officer, District III (2), but the other Income-tax Officer to whom the assessment file had been transferred.;