Income tax Appeal No v. Veena Aggarwal

Judgment

4. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case the Hon ble ITAT was right in holding that it would , ’ be fair and just the assessment is made at Rs . 3,70,000/-. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case while so holding the Hon ble ITAT was right ’ in law in holding that relief was due to the assessee for assessment year 1991-92 because income in excess of surrendered income was assessed for the assessment 1989-90 1990-91. Whether Hon ble ITAT was justified in holding that the ’ assessee was in perturbed condition at the time of giving statement and that the assessee was entitled to relief on compassionate ground . Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case while so holding the Hon ble ITAT was right in law , ’ , in ignoring the facts that the amount surrendered at the time of search not only included the profit from the business but also unexplained stock investment made in , Income-tax Appeal No. 123 of 2004 3 purchase of cars as also other investment on the basis of incriminating documents found at the time of search .

Briefly the facts of the case are that , the respondent - assessee and her husband Ramesh Chander Aggarwal were , , engaged in the business of trading in iron and steel in their respective proprietorship concerns namely M s Mahavir Iron and , , / . Steel Traders and M s Katak Ram Ramji Dass respectively , The . / . affairs of both the concerns were however being managed by the , , husband of the respondent A search and seizure operation was . carried out at the premises of the assessee on

24.7.1990 and during the process of the operation , certain books of accounts were managed to be removed which later on were claimed to have been , , lost Ramesh Chander made voluntary surrender of certain amounts , . which are as follow : Name of firm Financial Amount / . Dass M s Katak Ram Ramji , Tanda , Road , Jalandhar M s Mahavir Iron and / . Steel Traders Year Assessment / 88-89/89-90 50,000/- 89-90/90-91 90-91/91-92 88-89/89-90 50,000/- 1,00,000/- 4,00,000/- 89-90/90-91 90-91/91-92 3,00,000/- 5,00,000/- Income-tax Appeal No. 123 of 2004 4 The assessee initially filed return for the assessment 1991-92 declaring income of Rs . 5,00,000/- which was considered as invalid within the meaning of sub section (9) of Section of the Act Subsequently the assessee filed revised return on 139 . ,

15.7.1993 showing an income of Rs . 3,00,000/- as against Rs . 5,00,000/- indicating therein that she felt that the return earlier filed by her was over estimated The revised return was found to have - . been filed beyond the period of limitation provided in sub section - (4) of Section 139 of the Act A notice was thus issued to the assessee . , , under section 148 and assessment proceedings commenced against . In the said proceedings the assessee could not produce books of accounts taking a plea that the same had been lost The assessing . officer on the basis of the bank account record and other material available finalized the assessment at Rs . 5,00,000/- vide order dated

8.3.1995, Annexure A -1, passed under Section 143(3) of the Act . The assessee preferred appeal before the Commissioner of Income - tax Appeals ( ) { in short “CIT A ” ( ) }. The CIT A on examination of ( ) matter came to conclusion that the order passed by the assessing officer was legal and justified and thus dismissed the appeal vide , , order dated

26.10.1995, Annexure A -2. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT A the assessee filed ( ), appeal before the Tribunal . The Tribunal , vide order dated

15.12.2003, directed the assessing officer to finalize the assessment at Rs . 3,70,000/- as against the amount of Rs . 5,00,000/- sustained by the CIT A ( ). This is how the Revenue is in appeal before us . Income-tax Appeal No. 123 of 2004 5 We have heard learned counsel for the appellant and have perused the record . The husband of the respondent assessee had surrendered - a sum of Rs . 12 lacs on the date of search operation The surrender . was Rs . 4 lacs for the assessment year 1989-90, Rs . 3 lacs for 1990-91 and Rs . 5 lacs for the assessment year 1991-92. However , ultimately the addition of Rs lacs was made for the assessment , .4.40 1989-90 and Rs . 3.90 lacs for the assessment year 1990-91. The benefit of the excess amount of Rs . 1,30,000/-, . i e Rs . . 40,000/- in respect of assessment year 1989-90 and Rs . 90,000/- relating to the assessment year 1990-91 has been allowed by the Tribunal which is under challenge in this appeal at the instance of , the Revenue The findings recorded by the Tribunal in this behalf are . as under : “ After considering the rival submissions and perusing the relevant material on record it is obvious that in so far as , present assessee concerned , amount surrendered was at Rs . 12 lacs which was spread over , the assessment years 1989-90 1991-92. As against the surrendered income of Rs . 4 lacs and Rs . 3 lacs for the immediately preceding assessment , department had assessed the assessee at Rs . 4.40 and Rs . 3.90 lacs respectively . Since no books of account were finally found in the course of search and seizure proceedings and the voluntary surrender made by Sh Ramesh Chander Aggarwal consequent upon the . Income-tax Appeal No. 123 of 2004 6 persuasion by the Deptt was at Rs lacs spread over . . 12 three years as noted above in such circumstances we , , are satisfied that the income in the three relevant assessment years should have been determined at Rs . 12 lacs only The uncontroverted position before us is that in . the immediately preceding two assessment years , assessee has been assessed at Rs . 8.30 lacs without any books of accounts and the balance amount that remains to be taxed in the assessment year under consideration comes to Rs . 3.70 lacs Rs ( .12 -8.30 lacs On the ). contention raised by the learned A R to the effect that the . . assessee is widow and her husband who made the surrender in a perturbed condition finding to which extent is apparent from the statement u s / 132(4) is no more alive we are satisfied that , this case deserves to be considered on compassionate ground as well . In the peculiar facts of the present case we are satisfied that it , would be fair and just if the assessment is made at Rs .

3.70 lacs We order accordingly ” . . Learned counsel for the Revenue could not show that the benefit of addition beyond the surrendered amount for the assessment years 1989-90 1990-91 . i e Rs . . 40,000/- and Rs . 90,000/- respectively could not be given to the assessee in the , assessment year 1991-92. The learned counsel for the Revenue was not able to point out any infirmity or illegality in the findings recorded by the Tribunal which may warrant interference by this Court The . Income-tax Appeal No. 123 of 2004 7 Tribunal has taken a plausible view on appreciation of material on record In such a situation the findings recorded by the Tribunal . , cannot be faulted with . In view of the above the appeal is dismissed . , ( AJAY KUMAR MITTAL ) JUDGE October 28, 2010 rkmalik * * ( ADARSH KUMAR GOEL ) JUDGE