SURAJ MALL MOHTA AND CO. vs A. V. VISVANATHA SASTRI AND ANOTHER.

The Supreme Court held that sub-section (4) of section 5 of the Taxation on Income (Investigation Commission) Act, 1947, does not classify the same group of persons as sub-section (1) of section 5, as it encompasses all individuals who may have evaded income tax, regardless of the extent of evasion. The Court found that both sub-section (4) and section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, target individuals with similar characteristics regarding tax evasion. The Court ruled that the procedure under the 1947 Act is more prejudicial than that under the Income-tax Act, thus violating Article 14 of the Constitution, rendering it void and unenforceable.