HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Commissioner of Income Tax, Jalandhar-I v. Shri Rajiv Bhatara
Civil Appeal No. 1121 of 2009
[2009] 2 SCR 873 ·
113 proviso · 158BA · 158BB · 158BC · 4 · 154 (procedural history) · 260A (procedural history)
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
Two-judge bench · Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. · Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, J.
01 · Facts of the case
The dispute concerned the printed block period 1 April 1990 to 3 July 2000 and a search stated to have begun on 6 April 2000. The AO imposed surcharge in the May 2002 assessment and rejected the assessee’s section 154 application. CIT(A) deleted surcharge because the search preceded the section 113 proviso’s 1 June 2002 commencement. The Tribunal and High Court upheld that result; Revenue appealed relying on Suresh N. Gupta. The assessee did not appear in the Supreme Court despite service (paragraphs 2–4 and 16).
Source: See the proposition-specific paragraph and PDF-page references below.
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
The two-judge Court followed Suresh N. Gupta. It treated surcharge as supported by the annual Finance Act provisions despite the fixed section 113 rate for undisclosed block income, and regarded the 2002 proviso as clarifying which year’s Finance Act supplied the surcharge rate. Its reasoning distinguished the block-assessment mechanism from the annual choice of rate and said the proviso selected the year in which the search began (paragraphs 5–15).
This is a description of the 2009 reasoning, not a current endorsement. The subsequent Constitution Bench in Vatika Township held the same section 113 proviso prospective and expressly overruled Suresh N. Gupta on that issue. The later ruling’s effect is separately explained below rather than silently replacing the historical judgment’s reasoning.
Source: See the proposition-specific paragraph and PDF-page references below.
03 · Judicial decision
In this 2009 proceeding, the departmental appeal was allowed and the High Court order in Tax Appeal 587/2006 set aside, with no order as to costs (paragraph 17). The reported order does not direct a remand or calculate a new surcharge amount. Its contrary-to-Vatika legal approach must carry the later-authority qualification.
Source: See the proposition-specific paragraph and PDF-page references below.
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
In whose favour: Revenue in the historical 2009 appeal
Departmental appeal allowed; High Court order set aside; no costs
Final disposition at the time, with its governing surcharge premise displaced by later Constitution Bench authority
The checked later legal ruling does not itself prove reopening, refund, recall or other relief in this specific taxpayer’s concluded proceeding. No present rate or fresh block-assessment rule is certified.
Source: See the proposition-specific paragraph and PDF-page references below.
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
Do not rely on this note as authority for retrospectively imposing the section 113 surcharge. In Vatika Township, judicial paragraphs 38–41 hold the proviso prospective from 1 June 2002 and expressly overrule the supporting Suresh N. Gupta conclusion. Comparing the actual propositions shows that the foundation followed here no longer supports this surcharge rule. That is a bounded editorial treatment assessment, not a claim of a separately verified order expressly recalling Rajiv Bhatara.
Vatika paragraph 25 describes a following case as Sanjiv Bhatara, while this source’s cover says Rajiv Bhatara; the naming discrepancy is retained. The doctrinal comparison does not depend on silently equating those names. Historical rates, block periods and post-judgment remedies require their own checks.
Source: See the proposition-specific paragraph and PDF-page references below.
Proposition-specific source paragraphs and PDF pages
- topic
- Identity and historic facts
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 1; 3; 4
- paragraphs
- Cover; 1–3
- source role
- reported metadata and judicial text
- topic
- Procedural path and relied-on authority
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 4; 5
- paragraphs
- 3–4
- source role
- judicial text
- topic
- Historical surcharge reasoning
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 5; 6; 7; 8
- paragraphs
- 5–15
- source role
- judicial text
- topic
- Nonappearance and operative result
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 8
- paragraphs
- 16–17
- source role
- judicial text
- topic
- Bounded later Constitution Bench comparison
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 24; 33; 41; 42; 43
- paragraphs
- 25; 38–41
- source role
- judicial text
Historical block period
1 April 1990 to 3 July 2000, as printed in paragraph 2Judicial authorship and separate opinions
Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J.Act identified in the reviewed source
Income-tax Act, 1961Verified relationships between specified judgments
- later case id
- sc-2014-09-15-vatika-township
- relationship
- Later Constitution Bench rejects the surcharge premise followed here; editorial doctrinal comparison
- scope limit
- Not a verified individual recall or refund order; name discrepancy retained.
- evidence
- topic
- Original clarificatory approach
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 7; 8
- paragraphs
- 13–15
- source role
- judicial text
- topic
- Later prospective ruling and express overruling of supporting authority
- source url
- Open cited source
- pdf pages
- 24; 33; 43
- paragraphs
- 25; 38; 40–41
- source role
- judicial text
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
Identified source rendition: 8 PDF pages; SHA-256 bab91797a84b72eda3c8202d4df2f0f5a84c9b36247ecfa8fe059f823cd99ab4. Original bytes preserved. Judicial paragraphs 1–17 begin physical page 3/SCR 875 and end page 8/SCR 880; editorial headnote excluded.
- Paragraph 3 attributes the levy to Finance Act 2000, while paragraphs 10–13 discuss Finance Act 2001 and a 17% surcharge. The inconsistency is preserved; no independent rate calculation is offered.; The printed block end date differs from the stated search-initiation date. No explanation or corrected period is invented.; Narrative slips include Chapter XIV where the context is former Chapter XIV-B and disclosed where the dispute concerns undisclosed income.; Vatika’s paragraph 25 names Sanjiv Bhatara; this primary source is Rajiv Bhatara. The later comparison rests on the clearly identified contrary section 113 propositions and express overruling of Suresh N. Gupta.
Statutory scope
Current statutory equivalence and 2025 Act applicability have not been verified.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-04. Comprehensive subsequent judicial and statutory treatment has not been verified. Only the expressly identified bounded comparisons have been checked. No current-law or Income-tax Act, 2025 mapping is certified.
Page references identify the supplied PDF; paragraph references identify the judgment unless stated otherwise.
Identified source links
- reported judgment — PDF 8 pages
SHA-256: bab91797a84b72eda3c8202d4df2f0f5a84c9b36247ecfa8fe059f823cd99ab4
- reported judgment — PDF 43 pages
SHA-256: 4892de497ff80aa17d11d66c23196f4ea79d62857d8a872213f2b312aaa20a24
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