Best-judgment assessment may rely on a proximate survey report; such objection did not raise a question of law.

An inspector's report based on a survey conducted shortly after the relevant year was treated as relevant to a best-judgment assessment where no books of account were maintained. The proximity of the survey to the assessment year, together with the assessee's past history, did not show that the assessment rested wholly on irrelevant material. The objection that the report could not be used for the assessment year in question was therefore not treated as giving rise to a question of law under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the application was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal was justified in treating the inspector's report, prepared in relation to a proximate future period, as relevant for the assessment year in question, and whether that objection raised a question of law under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The assessee pressed only the objection that the inspector's report, based on a survey conducted in September 1993, could not be relied upon for assessment year 1992-93. The assessment was made on best judgment basis because no books of account were maintained. The proximity of the later survey and report to the relevant year, especially when past history may also be taken into account, did not show that the assessment was founded wholly on irrelevant material.

Conclusion: The objection did not give rise to a question of law, and the application was rejected.

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