ISSUE:
Whether the settlement made under section 8A of the Taxation on Income (Investigation Commission) Act, 1947is valid?
Can a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution be waived?
Under section 5(1) of the Investigation Act which has already been held unconstitutional then the settlement under section 8A could not be enforced, for the foundation of the proceedings under section 8A was the reference under section 5(1) and the very foundation for the report of the Investigation Commission has disappeared and settlement can neither be valid, nor it can be enforced?
RULE:
Waiver of a right means relinquishment of that right by the individual. A Constitution Bench of five judges of the Supreme Court in Basheshar Nath v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi and Rajasthan, AIR 1959 SC 149 held that Fundamental Rights cannot be waived.