30 March 2012
whether an assessee can request assessing officer to issue summons to witness if assessee fails to produce him before authorities? if yes pls send relevant case law
31 March 2012
Yes.You can request the AO in writing asking him to issue summons to the witness.I think you are trying to cross examine the witness,therefore, you need to request the same. S.131 otherwise also empowers the AO to issue summons to the person whose attendance is necessary.But there are jurisdictional limits.Proceedings before the AO are under the applicable provision of civil procedure code 1908 which shall govern the proceedings.There are case laws too which you can see in relevance to S.131 read with circulars.See Abdul Razak case (1986)26 Taxman234(Bom)& (1984)149ITR341 V. Datchinamurthy V.ADIT.