Dipak Kumar Sen, J. - (1.) In this reference arising out of an application of the Commissioner of Income-tax, West Bengal-V, Calcutta, under Section 256(1) of the I.T. Act, 1961, the question of law which has been referred is as follows : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal erred in law in holding that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was justified in entertaining a single appeal against both the orders under Section 143 and Section 185 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, in respect of the assessment years 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70 ?"
(2.) The facts on record are, inter alia, as follows : Rupa Traders, the assessee, was treated as an "association of persons" by the ITO in the assessment years 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70, for which the relevant accounting periods are Gujrati Dewali 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively.
(3.) In the assessment year 1967-68, the ITO made an assessment under Section 143(3) and also passed an order under Section 185 whereby the registration of the assessee as a firm in the said assessment year was refused and its status was determined to be that of an "association of persons". For the subsequent assessment years 1968-69 and 1969-70, the ITO passed similar orders under Section 185.;