98 Returns, etc. to be confidential

(1) All particulars contained in any statement made, return furnished or accounts or documents produced in accordance with this Act, or in any record of evidence given in the course of any proceedings under this Act, other than proceedings before a criminal court, shall, save as provided in sub-section (3) of this section, be treated as confidential, and notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), no court shall, save as aforesaid, be entitled to require any servant of the Government to produce before it any such statement, return, account, document or record or any part thereof, or to give evidence before it in respect thereof.

(2) If, save as provided in sub-section (3) of this section, any servant of the Government discloses any of the particulars referred to in sub-section (1) of this section, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to six months, and shall also be liable to a fine.

(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to the disclosure 

(a) of any of the particulars referred to in sub-section (1) of this section for the purposes of investigation or prosecution under this Act or the Indian Penal Code 1860 (45 of 1860) or any other enactment for the time being in force;

(b) of such facts to an officer of the Central Government or any State Government as may be necessary for verification of such facts or for the purposes of enabling that Government to levy or realise any tax imposed by it;

(c) of any such particulars where such 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;

(d) of any such particulars to a civil court in any suit or proceeding to which the Government or any Value Added Tax authority is a party and 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 Value Added Tax authority to exercise any powers thereunder;

(e) 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;

(f) of any 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 payment;

(g) of any such particulars to any officer appointed by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for purpose of audit of tax receipts or refunds;

(h) 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 empowered to take disciplinary action against members of the profession to which he belongs;

(i) of such particulars to the officers of the Central Government or any State Government for such other purposes, as the Government may, by general or special order, direct; or

(j) of any information relating to a class of dealers or class of transactions, if, in the opinion of the Commissioner it is desirable in the public interest to publish such information.