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| 10 | Voice of CA3. Assessing Officer.4. Tax Recovery Officer.5. Income Tax Officer.6. Inspector of Income Tax, to a limited extent.Provison to sub-section (6) to section 133A specifically stipulates thatno survey can be conducted by an ADIT, DDIT, an AO, a TRO andITO without obtaining an approval of the JDIT or JCIT. It followsfrom the above proviso that no approval is required in case the CITor DIT or JCIT or JDIT is himself conducting the survey. However,in law, no format has been prescribed for obtaining such anauthorization as against Form 45 in case of seeking an authorizationfor a search. Furthermore, the assessee can now ask the ADIT,DDIT, AO etc. for showing such an authorization from the superiorauthority as this is in complete consonance with the principles ofnatural justice.It is to pertinent to mention here that this proviso has been insertedonly w.e.f. 01/06/2003 by Finance Act, 2003.Q.7 Is any prior approval required from CIT (Admn) or CCIT beforeconducting Survey?Ans. It may be noted that NO prior approval from CIT(Admn) or CCITis required before conducting Survey. However as per CBDT’sChairman’s message no. 49/May 27,2011 titled Transparency inSurvey operations, it has been directed by the Board Chairman thatSurvey teams visiting taxpayer’s premises under the provisions ofsection 133A of the Income tax Act will, before the commencement ofsurvey proceedings, provide to the taxpayer the names, designations& contact numbers of their CCIT, CIT and Addl/Joint Commissionerof Income Tax on which, as a proof of implementation of abovedirections, signature of the taxpayer surveyed would be obtained.The said proforma, duly signed by the taxpayer, would be submittedback to the CIT, to be preserved as permanent record.Q.8 What are the powers of a survey team?Ans. A conjoint reading of section 133A(1) & 133A(3), the specifiedauthority, competent to conduct survey, can exercise the followingpowers: -