| 21/8/2008 |
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| Court of Appeal - Decisions in Income Tax Cases |
| Case No: 21 |
Decided on 17 November 1958 |
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Forms Of Appeal To The Board Of Special Commissioners. Appeal Forms Have To Be Filed In Duplicate In Accordance With The Appeal Rules On Pains Of Nullity
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The Board had accepted as valid an appeal for two years of assessment where one appeal form had been submitted for each year. The Appeal Rules required that two forms be filed: one to be retained by the Secretary to the Board, the other to be passed by the Secretary to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.
Whilst criticizing the draftsmanship of the Rules, the Court said that the procedure therein set out was clear enough. The copy to be passed to the Commissioner enabled him to file an answer to the appeal, while the same Rules then stated that the Board was to fix the first hearing as soon as may be after the termination of the period allowed to the Commissioner to file his answer.
The Court agreed that excessive formality was not favoured in modern judicial proceedings, but although the Appeal Rules themselves did not state that failure to file the forms in duplicate would lead to nullity, it was evident that this was a vital step in the filing of valid appeals which could not be ignored. The Court discarded various arguments to the contrary and the appeal to the Board was declared null and void.
BSC Case No: 7/58
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