MOTIPUR ZAMINDARI COMPANY PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. AGRICULTURAL INCOME TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE five writ applications challenging the assessment made against the petitioner under the Bihar Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1948 (Bihar Act 32 of 1948), have been heard together and are being disposed of by this judgment.

(2.) IN respect of the assessment year 1956-57 corresponding to the accounting year 1363 Fasli, Shri N. N. Sarkar, the then Agricultural INcome-tax Officer, by his order dated February 22, 1960, a copy of which is annexure "1" in C.W.J.C. No. 858 of 1970, had assessed the taxable agricultural income of the petitioner in that case at Rs. 79,383. The tax assessed on that income was Rs. 24,640'44. The petitioner-company went up in appeal. The Deputy Commissioner of Agricultural INcome-tax, Muzaffarpur, by his order dated January 14, 1964 (annexure "2"), set aside the assessment and remanded the case to the Agricultural INcome-tax Officer for fresh assessment. On remand a fresh assessment has been made, as it appears, not in the light of the remand order passed by the Deputy Commissioner but entirely on fresh lines. I do not mean to suggest by this observation that when the remand was an open remand, a fresh assessment order on fresh lines could not be made. After remand, Shri S. Das, another Agricultural INcome-tax Officer, made an assessment order dated December 1, 1969 (annexure "3"), by which he has assessed the total income of the petitioner-company at Rs. 25,19,994 on which the tax payable is Rs. 14,33,832-47. C.W.J.C. No. 858 of 1970 is to challenge the assessment order dated December 1, 1969.

(3.) THE three cases, namely, C.W.J.C. Nos. 858, 741 and 742 of 1970 are identical. THE main grievance of the petitioner-company, namely, Motipur Zamindari Company Private Ltd., in these three cases is that the assessment orders in all these cases have been made in clear violation of the principles of natural justice on the basis of enquiries made behind the back of the assessee or its agents on materials which were not brought to their notice and they were not given opportunities to explain them and on the basis of many surmises and conjectures which in law could not form the basis of a legal and reasonable assessment. It is not necessary to go into all the alleged defects in the assessment order. For the purposes of allowing these three writ applications, it is sufficient to point out a few glaring defects, in the assessment order in C.W.J.C. No. 858/70; such defects are there in the other two assessment orders also.