Law:

Section:

Section 276C, read with section 277 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Offences and prosecution - Wilful attempt to evade tax, etc. - Assessment year 1983-84 - Whether prosecution for offences under sections 276C and 277 could be launched only when assessment proceedings initiated against petitioner were completed - Held, no - Whether mens rea has to be considered while deciding whether initiation of prosecution was valid - Held, no - Whether sections 276C and 277 contemplate any show-cause notice being issued before initiation of prosecution - Held, no - Whether section 276C(1) is constitutionally valid - Held, yes Section 279 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Offences and prosecution - Prosecution to be at instance of Commissioner - Whether section 279 prescribes that sanction of Commissioner is a pre-requisite for initiation of prosecution - Held, no FACTS For the assessment year 1983-84, the petitioner had filed a return on 7-7-1983. Thereafter, inquiry and investigation were conducted by the department under section 131(1A), at his premises, on 11-11-1983. It was found that the petitioner, as an authorised medical attendant, had certified and received undisclosed amounts from the employees of various factories. For the earlier assessment year 1982-83, the petitioner had received from the employees of the factory Rs. 31,826, vouchsafed by certificates signed and issued by her, while she had declared gross professional income of Rs. 8,969 only. A sworn statement on this aspect was also recorded from the petitioner. Therefore, the petitioner was sought to be prosecuted. On petition to quash the prosecution proceedings : HELD The wording of section 276C(1) apparently contemplates initiation of prosecution against a person for wilfully attempting in any manner whatsoever to evade tax, penalty or interest, irrespective of and without prejudice to penalty proceedings under the other provisions of the Act. Once a return had been submitted or a statement had been made in any verification, if those statements were false, the provisions of section 277 would be attracted and prosecution would be feasible. None of these sections contemplate any show-cause notice being issued…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492