Report No. 12
D-Disclosure of information
141. Disclosure of information prohibited.-
(1) All particulars contained in any statement made, return furnished or accounts or documents produced under the provisions of this Act, or in any evidence given, or affidavit or deposition made, in the course of any proceedings under this Act, other than proceedings under Chapter XXIII [Existing Chapter VIII-Offences and penalties], or in any record of any assessment, proceeding, or any proceeding relating to the recovery of a demand, prepared for the purposes of this Act, shall be treated as confidential, and notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), no court shall, save as provided in this Act, be entitled to require any public servant to produce before it any such return, accounts, documents or record or any part of any such record, or to give evidence before it in respect thereof.
[Section 54(1)]
(2) No public servant shall disclose any particulars contained in any such statement, return, accounts, documents, evidence, affidavit, deposition or record......
[Section 54(2), earlier part]
(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to the disclosure-
(a) of any such particulars for the purposes of a prosecution for any offence under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860) in respect of any such statement, return, accounts, documents, evidence, affidavit or deposition, or for the purposes of a prosecution for any offence under this Act; or
[Section 54(3)(a)]
(b) of any such particulars to any person acting in the execution of this Act where it is necessary or desirable to disclose the same to him for the purposes of this Act ; or
[Section 54(3)(b)]
(c) the substance of any material to an assessee, being relevant material gathered for the purposes of making an assessment under section 147(3) [section 23(3)] or under section 148 [section 23(4)], without disclosing any information which might enable the assessee to identifii the person to whom the material relates; or
(d) of any such particulars, where the disclosure is occasioned by the lawful employment under this Act of any process for the service of any notice or the recovery of any demand; or
[Section 54(3)(c)]
(e) of any such particulars to a civil court in any suit or proceeding to which Government or any Income-tax authority is a party, which relates to any matter arising out of any proceeding under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force authorising any Income-tax authority to exercise any powers thereunder; or
[Section 54(3)(d)]
(f)(i) of any such particulars contained in any accounts, or
(ii) of any registered document of which a certified copy can be obtained under the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 (19 of 1908), or
(iii) of a balance sheet or audit report or profit and loss accounts filed under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), or any other Act relating to companies, to a civil court in any suit or proceeding to which the person who produced the accounts, registered document, balance sheet, audit report or profit and loss account, or his representative-in-interest is a party, if the particulars, registered document, balance sheet, audit report, or profit and loss account are relevant to any matter in issue in such suit or proceeding;
(g) of any such particulars to the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for the purpose of enabling him to discharge his functions under the Constitution; or
[Section 54(3)(e)]
(h) of any such particulars to any officer appointed by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or the Central Board of Revenue to audit income-tax receipts or refunds; or
[Section 54(3)(f)]
(i) of any such particulars, relevant to any inquiry into the conduct of an official of the Income-tax Department, to any persons appointed Commissioners under the
Public Servants (Inquiries) Act, 1850 (37 of 1850), or to an officer otherwise appointed to hold such inquiry, or to a Public Service Commission established under the Constitution, when exercising its functions in relation to any matter arising out of any such inquiry; or
[Section 54(3)(g)]
(j) of any such particulars relevant to any inquiry into a charge of misconduct in connection with income-tax proceedings against a legal practitioner or chartered accountant, to the authority referred to in section 324(3) [section 61(3)], when exercising the functions referred to in that sub-section, or
[Section 54(3)(gg)]
(k) of any such particulars by any public servant, where the disclosure is occasioned by the lawful exercise by him of his powers under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (2 of 1899), to impound an insufficiently stamped document; or
[Section 54(3)(h)]
(1) of such facts, to an authorised officer of the Government of any country outside India which has entered into an agreement with India for the granting of relief in respect of or avoidance of double taxation, as may be necessary for the purpose of enabling such relief or a refund under section 92 [49A] to be given or such avoidance under that section to be made effective; or
[Section 54(3)(i)]
(m) of such facts, to an officer of a State Government as may be necessary for the purpose of enabling that Government to levy or realise any tax imposed by it; or
[Section 54(3)(J)]
(n) of such facts, to an officer of the Central Government as may be necessary for the purpose of enabling that Government to levy or realise any tax imposed by it; or
(o) of such facts, to any authority exercising powers under the Sea Customs Act, 1878 (7 of 1878), or any Central Act imposing a duty of excise as may be necessary for enabling it duly to exercise such powers; or
[Section 54(3)(k)]
(p) of such facts, to any person charged by law with the duty of inquiring into the qualifications of electors as may be necessary to establish whether a person is or is not entitled to be entered on an electoral roll; or
[Section 54(3)(l)]
(q) of so much of such particulars, to the appropriate authority, as may be necessary to establish whether a person has or has not been assessed to income-tax in any particular year or years, where under the provisions of any law for the time being in force such fact is required to be established; or
[Section 54(3)(m)]
(r) of such particulars to the Reserve Bank of India as are required by that Bank to enable it to compile financial statistics of international investment and balance of payments; or
[Section 54(3)(n)]
(s) of such information as may be required by any officer or department of the Central Government or of a State Government for the purpose of investigation into the conduct and affairs of any public servant; or
[Section 54(3)(o)]
(t) of any such particulars to the Custodian of Evacuee Property appointed under the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1950 (31 of 1950), for the purpose of enabling him to discharge the duties imposed upon him by or under the said Act.
[Section 54(3)(p)]
(4) Nothing in this section shall apply to the production by a public servant before a court of any document, declaration or affidavit filed, of the record of any statement or deposition made in a proceeding under section 181 [25A] or sections 191 to 193 or to the giving of evidence by a public servant in respect thereof.
[Section 54(4)]
(5) In this section, "public servant" means any public servant employed in the execution of this Act.
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