Law: Wealth Tax Act, (XV of 1963)

Section: 17B,24

Law: Income Tax Ordinance, 1979

Section: 133

Law: Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1981

Section: 20

THIS JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY: MUHAMMAD MUZAMMAL KHAN, JUSTICE This Constitutional petition seeks order, dated 7-5-2003 passed by respondent No.4 whereby appeal of petitioner was dismissed for non-prosecution to be declared illegal, void and of no legal consequence. 2. Precisely, relevant facts are that petitioner is an assessee of Wealth Tax Department with the status of an individual under the jurisdiction Special officer of Wealth Tax Circle-23, Zone-B, Lahore and his assessments from 1991 to 1997 were finalized through a consolidated order, dated 25-6-1998. Respondent No.2 by invoking provisions of section 17-B of the Wealth Tax Act, 1963 cancelled the order of Assessing officer with a direction to him to reassess the net wealth of the petitioner including valuation of his house at Lawrence Road, Lahore, vide his order, dated 15-5-2001. 3. The Inspecting Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, Range IV, Zone-B, Lahore (respondent No.3) ignoring the fact that. Respondent No.2 had already invoking provisions of section 17-B of the Wealth Tax Act, 1963, applying the same provisions, again modified the order passed by Respondent No.1 which already stood cancelled in spite of the fact that powers under section 17-B of the Act (ibid) could not have been exercised for the second time. Petitioner aggrieved of the decision of the respondent No.3, dated 29-5-2002 filed an appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in terms of section 24 of the Wealth Tax Act, 1963. Appeal of the petitioner was dismissed for non-prosecution by it through the order Impugned dated 7-5-2003. Petitioner after moving an application under Rule 20 of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1981 for recall of the order and after moving another application before respondent No.3, filed instant Constitutional petition, for the relief noted above. Respondent in-spite of notice, opted not to appear, hence are proceeded ex parte. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that under Rule 20 of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1981, appeal of the petitioner could not have been dismissed in default of appearance and instead, the appeal should have been decided on merits. He in this…

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