59[Power
of survey.
60133A. (1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, an
income-tax authority may enter—
(a) any place within the limits of the area
assigned to him, or
(b) any place occupied by any person in respect of
whom he exercises jurisdiction, 61[or]
61[(c) any place in respect of which he is authorised
for the purposes of this section by such income-tax authority, who is assigned
the area within which such place is situated or who exercises jurisdiction in
respect of any person occupying such place,]
at which
a business or profession is carried on, whether such place be the principal
place or not of such business or profession, and require any proprietor,
employee or any other person who may at that time and place be attending in any
manner to, or helping in, the carrying on of such business or profession—
(i) to afford him the necessary facility to
inspect such books of account or other documents as he may require and which
may be available at such place,
(ii) to afford him the necessary facility to check
or verify the cash, stock or other valuable article or thing which may be found
therein, and
(iii) to furnish such information as he may require as
to any matter which may be useful for, or relevant to, any proceeding under
this Act.
Explanation.—For the
purposes of this sub-section, a place where a business or profession is carried
on shall also include any other place, whether any business or profession is
carried on therein or not, in which the person carrying on the business or
profession states that any of his books of account or other documents or any
part of his cash or stock or other valuable article or thing relating to his
business or profession are or is kept.
(2) An
income-tax authority may enter any place of business or profession referred to
in sub-section (1) only during the hours at which such place is open for the
conduct of business or profession and, in the case of any other place, only
after sunrise and before sunset.
(3) An
income-tax authority acting under this section may,—
(i) if he so deems necessary, place marks of
identification on the books of account or other documents inspected by him and
make or cause to be made extracts or copies therefrom,
62[(ia) impound and retain in his
custody for such period as he thinks fit any books of account or other
documents inspected by him:
Provided that such income-tax authority
shall not—
(a) impound any books of account or other documents
except after recording his reasons for so doing; or
63[(b) retain in his custody any such books of
account or other documents for a period exceeding ten days (exclusive of holidays)
without obtaining the approval of the Chief Commissioner or Director General
therefor, as the case may be,]]
(ii) make an inventory of any cash, stock or other
valuable article or thing checked or verified by him,
(iii) record the statement of any person which may
be useful for, or relevant to, any proceeding under this Act.
(4) An
income-tax authority acting under this section shall, on no account, remove or
cause to be removed from the place wherein he has entered, 64[***] any cash, stock or other valuable
article or thing.
(5)
Where, having regard to the nature and scale of expenditure incurred by an
assessee, in connection with any function, ceremony or event, the income-tax
authority is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do, he may,
at any time after such function, ceremony or event, require the assessee by
whom such expenditure has been incurred or any person who, in the opinion of
the income-tax authority, is likely to possess information as respects the
expenditure incurred, to furnish such information as he may require as to any
matter which may be useful for, or relevant to, any proceeding under this Act
and may have the statements of the assessee or any other person recorded and
any statement so recorded may thereafter be used in evidence in any proceeding
under this Act.
(6) If a
person under this section is required to afford facility to the income-tax
authority to inspect books of account or other documents or to check or verify
any cash, stock or other valuable article or thing or to furnish any
information or to have his statement recorded either refuses or evades to do
so, the income-tax authority shall have all the powers under 65[sub-section (1) of section 131] for enforcing compliance with the
requirement made :
66[Provided
that no action under sub-section (1) shall be taken by an Assistant Director or
a Deputy Director or an Assessing Officer or a Tax Recovery Officer or an
Inspector of Income-tax without obtaining the approval of the Joint Director or
the Joint Commissioner, as the case may be.]
Explanation.—In this
section,—
67[(a) “income-tax authority” means a Commissioner, a
Joint Commissioner, a Director, a Joint Director, an Assistant Director or a
Deputy Director or an Assessing Officer, or a Tax Recovery Officer, and for the
purposes of clause (i) of sub-section (1), clause (i) of
sub-section (3) and sub-section (5), includes an Inspector of Income-tax;]
(b) “proceeding” means any proceeding under this
Act in respect of any year which may be pending on the date on which the powers
under this section are exercised or which may have been completed on or before
such date and includes also all proceedings under this Act which may be
commenced after such date in respect of any year.]
