Section 133A(4) — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section 133A(4), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Pawan Kumar Goel v Union of India
High CourtHelps taxpayer
The officers came in on a survey, I cooperated and showed them everything, and then they turned it into a search and took away the cash. Can they do that?
No, not on this record. The Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the action. Section 133A(4) forbids an income-tax authority acting under that section from removing any cash, stock or valuable article from the premises, and it is only where the person refuses or evades cooperation that section 133A(6) lets the authority fall back on the powers in section 131(1). Here the assessee had voluntarily disclosed and handed over Rs 2,09,89,090, the department produced no material to show non-cooperation, and no satisfaction was ever recorded for converting the survey into a search. The summons under section 131 was also vague, specifying nothing that was required of him. The action was quashed with consequential benefits.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.