HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
M. K. Venkatachalam, Income-tax Officer and Another v. Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Civil Appeal No. 122 of 1956
[1959] 1 SCR 703 ·
Indian Income-tax Act, 1922: sections 18A(5), 35 · Indian Income-tax (Amendment) Act, 1953: sections 1(2), 13
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
3-judge bench · T. L. Venkatarama Aiyar · P. B. Gajendragadkar · A. K. Sarkar
Assessment years: 1952-53
01 · Facts of the case
An assessment made in October 1952 credited interest on advance tax. A 1953 amendment retrospectively effective from 1 April 1952 restricted that interest. The Income-tax Officer rectified the excess credit; the Bombay High Court prohibited recovery.
Source: Primary report: SCR 704–706
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
The retrospective proviso had to be treated as part of the statute when the original order was made. An obvious legal inconsistency could constitute an apparent mistake just as an obvious factual mistake could. The original order remained subject to the statutory rectification power; finality did not defeat that power.
Source: Primary report: SCR 706–712
03 · Judicial decision
Section 35 authorised rectification of the excessive interest credit caused by the retrospective amendment.
Source: Primary report: SCR 711–713
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
Revenue appeal allowed with costs throughout; the High Court writ was set aside.
Source: Primary report: SCR 713
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
Identify the precise retrospective commencement provision and the applicable rectification power and limitation. The judgment does not confer an unrestricted power to reopen every completed assessment.
Source: Primary report: SCR 708–713
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
Complete 11-page Supreme Court Reports scan. Any adjoining report fragments remain in the unchanged original and are excluded from this analysis.
Statutory scope
Historical legislation expressly identified in this note. This is not a decision under the Income-tax Act, 1961 or the Income-tax Act, 2025. Verify enacted wording, commencement, transition and subsequent judicial treatment independently before modern reliance.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-23. Subsequent treatment and present-law applicability have not been comprehensively checked.
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AI disclosure & professional disclaimer
This AKHB research note uses AI assistance and a preserved full-primary review, with refreshed exact original-byte verification. 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. AKHB REVIEW POINT is editorial analysis, not the Court’s holding.