Academic tax reference questions need not be answered where the assessment rests on evidence and not on burden of proof.

In income-tax reference proceedings, a court need not answer a question that is academic, irrelevant, or unnecessary to determine any right or liability, and may decline even where the reference was directed to be stated. On the burden of proof issue, the assessment was upheld on the totality of the evidence because the books were incomplete, lacked supporting vouchers, and did not yield a reliable profit figure; the cash credits were only one circumstance considered, after the assessee was given an opportunity to explain them. The reference was left unanswered and the assessment order was allowed to stand.

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Issues: (i) whether the Court was bound to answer a referred question that was unnecessary, irrelevant, or purely academic; (ii) whether the assessment was founded on an erroneous allocation of the burden of proof in relation to the cash credits.

Issue (i): whether the Court was bound to answer a referred question that was unnecessary, irrelevant, or purely academic

Analysis: A question referred in income-tax reference proceedings need not be answered if it is academic, irrelevant, or unnecessary for determination of any right or liability. The jurisdiction to answer a reference does not compel the Court to pronounce on a question that would not affect the outcome or is not material to the controversy. Even where the reference has been directed to be stated, the Court retains the power to decline an answer if the question does not survive on the facts.

Conclusion: The Court was not bound to answer the first question and declined to do so.

Issue (ii): whether the assessment was founded on an erroneous allocation of the burden of proof in relation to the cash credits

Analysis: The assessment was made after the books were found incomplete, unsupported by vouchers for the bulk of the sales, and incapable of yielding a reliable profit figure. The cash credits appearing in the names of members of the family were treated as one circumstance among several, and the assessee was given an opportunity to explain them. The decision rested on the totality of the materials and on the merits of the case, not on any legal presumption that the burden lay on the assessee to disprove ownership of the credits. Where a tribunal reaches a concluded finding on evidence, the burden of proof does not control the result.

Conclusion: The assessment did not turn on any wrong view of onus, and the Court declined to answer the second question as well.

Final Conclusion: The reference was left unanswered, and the assessment order was allowed to stand without any opinion being expressed on the referred questions.

Ratio Decidendi: In a reference proceeding, the Court may refuse to answer a question that is purely academic, unnecessary, or irrelevant, and where the assessment is decided on the merits of the evidence, the burden of proof is not a determining factor.

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