Best judgment assessment upheld where concealed income estimate rested on admissions, commission material, and relevant market circumstances.

A best judgment assessment was sustained where the assessee failed to file returns and ignored statutory notice, justifying an ex parte assessment. The Income-tax Officer could rely on material gathered by the Investigation Commission, the assessee's admissions, and surrounding market circumstances in estimating concealed income. The estimate was upheld because it was based on relevant factors and could not be characterised as capricious, arbitrary, or conjectural. The objections were treated as largely factual rather than raising any substantial question of law, and the challenge to the assessment failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the income-tax authorities were justified in making a best judgment assessment by relying upon material gathered by the Investigation Commission and the assessee's admissions, and whether the resulting estimate of concealed income was arbitrary or conjectural.

Analysis: The assessee had failed to file returns and comply with the statutory notice, enabling an ex parte best judgment assessment. In making the estimate, the Income-tax Officer relied not merely on the Investigation Commission material but also on the assessee's own admissions and surrounding market circumstances. The estimate made by the Income-tax Officer was higher than the Commission's estimate and was based on several relevant factors. On the record, the assessment could not be characterised as capricious, arbitrary, or unsupported by material. The objections raised were found to rest largely on facts rather than on any substantial question of law.

Conclusion: The challenge to the assessment failed, and the estimate of concealed income was upheld in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: A best judgment assessment is not invalid merely because the Income-tax Officer takes into account material collected by the Investigation Commission or the assessee's own admissions, so long as the estimate is based on relevant circumstances and is not arbitrary or conjectural.

---