Section 494 — Disclosure of particulars by public servants. Successor to s.280 of the 1961 Act.
Section 494 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
Sub-section (1) makes it an offence for a public servant to furnish information or produce a document in contravention of section 258(3), punishable — as substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026 — with simple imprisonment up to one month, or with fine, or with both. Before that substitution the punishment was imprisonment which could extend to six months, with fine mandatory in addition. Sub-section (2) bars any prosecution under the section except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.
It protects the confidentiality that section 258(3) imposes on information and documents held by the department, by making breach by a public servant a criminal offence. The sanction requirement keeps prosecution of public servants under central control, and the 2026 substitution materially reduces the punishment.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punishment for the offence | Simple imprisonment up to one month, or fine, or both | As substituted by Act No. 4 of 2026 w.e.f. 1-4-2026, replacing imprisonment which may extend to six months together with a mandatory fine | 494(1) |
Work from the substituted punishment: since 1 April 2026 the maximum is one month's simple imprisonment, imprisonment and fine are alternatives rather than cumulative, and a fine alone is available. No prosecution can be launched at all without the previous sanction of the Central Government, so the absence of sanction is a complete answer to a complaint under this section. What constitutes the contravention is not in this section — it turns entirely on section 258(3).
A departmental officer passes an assessee's particulars to an outsider in contravention of section 258(3). He is liable to simple imprisonment up to one month, or to fine, or to both — the one-month maximum and the alternative form of sentence being what Act No. 4 of 2026 substituted with effect from 1 April 2026 for the earlier imprisonment up to six months with a mandatory fine. Even so, nothing follows automatically: sub-section (2) bars any prosecution under the section without the previous sanction of the Central Government, so a complaint filed without that sanction cannot be instituted at all.
In a prosecution of a public servant, which cannot even be instituted without the previous sanction of the Central Government under sub-section (2). A taxpayer does not meet this section directly — what he meets is the confidentiality restriction in section 258(3) that this section enforces.
shall be punishable with simple imprisonment up to one month, or with fine, or with both
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.