HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Chatturam Horilram Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax, Bihar and Orissa
Civil Appeal 38 of 1954
[1955] 2 SCR 290 ·
Income-tax Act 1922, sections 3, 4, 6, 34(1) as amended in 1939 · Bihar Regulation IV of 1942
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
3-judge bench · Vivian Bose · Jagannadhadas · Sinha
Assessment years: 1939–40; accounting year calendar 1938
01 · Facts of the case
An assessment failed because the 1939 Finance Act had not applied in Chota Nagpur. A 1942 regulation retrospectively extended it; after the High Court confirmed invalidity of the earlier assessment, Revenue issued a fresh section 34 notice on 12 February 1944.
Source: Primary report: SCR 291–294
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
The regulation and court decision were objective new information about escapement, not mere changed opinion. Chargeability existed under the statutory scheme and retrospective enactment. Earlier proceedings that failed for this legal lacuna amounted to escapement; retrospectivity did not itself revive an assessment already set aside without express language.
Source: Primary report: SCR 294–302
03 · Judicial decision
Fresh notice valid; assessee’s appeal dismissed with costs.
Source: Primary report: SCR 302
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
Revenue succeeded.
Source: Primary report: SCR 302
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
Read discovery and escapement in the precise pre-1948 section 34 setting. The case distinguishes completed invalid proceedings from a still-pending original assessment and does not equate every non-assessment with escapement.
Source: Primary report: SCR 297–302
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
Complete 13-page primary Supreme Court Reports scan. Adjoining report fragments, where present, are retained in the exact original; only the identified case is analysed.
Statutory scope
Historical predecessor legislation and the provisions expressly identified in this note. This is not a decision applying the Income-tax Act, 1961 or the Income-tax Act, 2025; verify any modern-law comparison independently.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-23. Subsequent treatment and current-law applicability have not been comprehensively checked.
Page references identify the supplied PDF; paragraph references identify the judgment unless stated otherwise.
AI disclosure & professional disclaimer
This AKHB research note was prepared with AI assistance from an identified primary report. Independent human review is not represented.
General legal and tax research only; not legal or tax advice. Verify the complete judgment, applicable statutory version and subsequent treatment before reliance. The AKHB REVIEW POINT is editorial analysis, not the Court’s holding. No current-law clearance is claimed.