Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live (inserted by the Finance Act, 2012, w.e.f. 1 July 2012).
Finance Act, 2026: Not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Mechanism: The Special Court shall try, as a summons case, an offence under the Chapter punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years or with fine or with both.
Litigation profile: Sparse — procedural; no direct merits authority.
A. COMMENTARY
Summons-case procedure for the lighter offences
Section 280C directs that, notwithstanding the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Special Court shall try as a summons case any offence under Chapter XXII punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years, or with fine, or with both, applying the summons-case provisions of the Code. Summons-case trial is the simpler, speedier procedure (no formal framing of a charge; the substance of the accusation is stated to the accused), reflecting the relatively less grave character of these offences. The provision is significant in light of the Finance Act, 2026 rationalisation, which brings more offences within the up-to-two-years band and thus within the summons-case mode.
Interaction with the FA 2026 sentence reductions
Because the Finance Act, 2026 reduces several Chapter XXII offences to maxima of two years (or six months, or fine), more prosecutions will, from 1 March 2026, fall to be tried as summons cases under section 280C — accelerating disposal. Offences exceeding the two-year threshold continue to be tried as warrant cases.
B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim — pre-Finance Act, 2026 text)
Text reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; section 280C is not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Trial of offences as summons case.
280C. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), the Special Court, shall try, an offence under this Chapter punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years or with fine or with both, as a summons case, and the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as applicable in the case of trial of summons case, shall apply accordingly.
C. AUTHORITIES
No reported decision construes section 280C directly (candour rule). It is a procedural provision prescribing the mode of trial, read with sections 280A, 280B and 280D.
Cognate context — mode of trial
Summons-case trial under the Code of Criminal Procedure
Court/Year Procedural context.
Holding Offences up to two years are tried as summons cases; the general CrPC jurisprudence on summons trials governs. No section-specific interpretive authority is reported. Candour rule applies.
CHAPTER XXII — OFFENCES AND PROSECUTIONS
Section 280C — Trial of offences as summons case
Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise
Status: Live (inserted by the Finance Act, 2012, w.e.f. 1 July 2012).
Finance Act, 2026: Not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Mechanism: The Special Court shall try, as a summons case, an offence under the Chapter punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years or with fine or with both.
Litigation profile: Sparse — procedural; no direct merits authority.
A. COMMENTARY
Summons-case procedure for the lighter offences
Section 280C directs that, notwithstanding the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Special Court shall try as a summons case any offence under Chapter XXII punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years, or with fine, or with both, applying the summons-case provisions of the Code. Summons-case trial is the simpler, speedier procedure (no formal framing of a charge; the substance of the accusation is stated to the accused), reflecting the relatively less grave character of these offences. The provision is significant in light of the Finance Act, 2026 rationalisation, which brings more offences within the up-to-two-years band and thus within the summons-case mode.
Interaction with the FA 2026 sentence reductions
Because the Finance Act, 2026 reduces several Chapter XXII offences to maxima of two years (or six months, or fine), more prosecutions will, from 1 March 2026, fall to be tried as summons cases under section 280C — accelerating disposal. Offences exceeding the two-year threshold continue to be tried as warrant cases.
B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim — pre-Finance Act, 2026 text)
Text reproduced verbatim from the bare Act; section 280C is not amended by the Finance Act, 2026.
Trial of offences as summons case.
280C. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), the Special Court, shall try, an offence under this Chapter punishable with imprisonment not exceeding two years or with fine or with both, as a summons case, and the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as applicable in the case of trial of summons case, shall apply accordingly.
C. AUTHORITIES
No reported decision construes section 280C directly (candour rule). It is a procedural provision prescribing the mode of trial, read with sections 280A, 280B and 280D.
Cognate context — mode of trial
Summons-case trial under the Code of Criminal Procedure
Court/Year Procedural context.
Holding Offences up to two years are tried as summons cases; the general CrPC jurisprudence on summons trials governs. No section-specific interpretive authority is reported. Candour rule applies.