Law:

Section:

Section 133(8) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Search and seizure - Retention of books of account/documents - Assistant Director of Inspection conducted search and seized cash, jewellery and documents, etc., from the petitioner-firm - As per section 132(9A) records were handed over to ITO within 15 days of seizure who passed order under section 132(5) - Subsequently, Assistant Director asked for Commissioner's approval for retention of books beyond 180 days which was duly granted -Whether having handed over records to ITO under section 132(9A), Assistant Director was not competent to ask for extension of time for retention of books and, hence, the retention of books by him beyond 180 days was illegal - Held, on facts, yes Facts The petitioner-firm consisted of two partners. The Assistant Director of Inspection was authorised by the Director of Inspection under section 132(1)(c) to conduct a search in the head office and the branch office of the firm and also the residential premises of both the partners. He conducted the search on 28-11-1984 and 29-11-1984. The authorities seized certain amount of cash, some items of jewellery along with certain documents from the residence of one of the partners. A notice under section 132(5), read with rule 112A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 was issued to the petitioner by the ITO on 10-12-1984 and an order was passed under section 132(5) against only one of the partners and not against the firm as such. Later on, on 22-5-1985 the Assistant Director of Inspection made a request to the Commissioner for approval under section 132(8) for retention of the documents seized from the petitioner for a period beyond 180 days from the date of seizure, which was granted on 24-5-1985. On writ, the petitioner contended that (i) the Assistant Director of Inspection was not one of the officers having jurisdiction under section 124 of the Act over the petitioner's firm and that, therefore, he should have handed over the documents to the ITO having jurisdiction over the firm within 15 days from the date of seizure as provided under sub-section (9A) of section 132, (ii) only the ITO who had jurisdiction over the firm and who had received the…

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