Law: Income Tax Act, 1922

Section: 35

Income-tax---Rectification-"Error apparent from the record", meaning of-Whether precludes reference to extraneous matters or other records-Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, S . 35. A firm consisted of A and his sons, B, C, D, E and F, of whom D, E and F were minors. The father, A, retired from the partnership on July 11, 1952, and a new firm consisting of B, C, D, E, F and G (a minor) was constituted on July 12, 1952. For the year 1953-54 the shares of D, E and F, who were minors, were included in A's income under section 16(3)(e)(iii) and the share incomes of D, E and F after July 12, 1952, alone, were assessed separately as their individual income. In an appeal by A, it was held that A should be assessed as karta of a Hindu undivided family and not as an individual and the share income of D, E and F were consequently excluded from A's income, with the result that the incomes of D, E and F before July 11, 1952, were not assessed at all. The Income-tax Officer took proceedings under section 35 to rectify the previous individual assessments of D, E and F on the ground that there was "an error apparent from the record": Held, that there is no invariable rule of law that, to constitute an "error apparent from the record", the error must be apparent from the record of the proceedings against the assessee himself. When the share income of D, E and F were excluded from A's income in the appeal preferred by A, the officer was justified in concluding that there was "an error apparent from the record" in the omission of the incomes of D, E and F up to July 11, 1952, in their individual assessments and rectifying the same under section 35. M. K. Venkatachalam, Income-tax Officer v. Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (1958) 34 I T R 143 (S C) and Walchand Nagar Industries Ltd. v. V. S. Gaittonde, Income-tax Officer (1962) 44 I T R 260 ref. JUDGMENT BROOME, J.--These three special appeals are directed against the judgment of Hon'ble Brijlal Gupta, J., dated November 23, 1961, by which he partly allowed three Writ Petitions (Nos. 841 of 1960 and 842 and 843 of 1961) Devendra Prakash v. Income-tax Officer, Barelly,…