“The” is a word before nouns, with the specifying or particularising effect as opposed to the indefinite or generalising force of “a” or “an”. It determines what particular thing is, meant, i. e., what particular thing to assume to be meant. “The” is always mentioned to denote a particular thing or a person”. Section 24 of the Act refers to the “Initiating Officer”. Therefore, it denotes “a particular officer or a person” and it cannot be generalised and stated that all Deputy Commissioners of Income-tax and Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax can function as the Initiating Officer under section 24.