Babloo Sharma Alias Pramod Sharma Vs State of Rajasthan (Rajasthan High Court)
The Rajasthan High Court considered a batch of criminal miscellaneous petitions filed by Babloo Sharma seeking quashing of proceedings pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offence), Jaipur Metropolitan-II under Section 276CC of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The proceedings concerned allegations of failure to furnish revised Income Tax Returns for assessment years 2005-06 to 2010-11 within the period specified in a notice issued under Section 153A. The notice dated 09.08.2011 was received by the petitioner on 11.08.2011 and required returns to be filed within 35 days, with the period expiring on 15.09.2011.
The petitioner stated that a search was conducted on 18.11.2010 at the business and residential premises of M/s Gold Sukh Trade India Limited and its Directors, including him. According to him, copies of seized material, the panchnama and statements recorded during the search were not supplied despite letters allegedly sent on 06.12.2010 and 19.01.2011 and a further letter dated 19.10.2011. He contended that the absence of these documents prevented him from filing the returns and therefore there was no willful default under Section 276CC. He also disputed the Department’s assertion that the documents had been supplied to his authorised representative.
