TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2013 (10) TMI 1073
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....as income of the assessee. 3. The facts relating to the same are stated in brief. The assessee herein is brother in law of Shri Jose Kuruvinakunnel (hereinafter "J.K"). The Assessing Officer of Shri J.K received anonymous information about unaccounted income earned by Shri J.K. During the course of enquiry in his hands, the DDIT (Inv.) recorded a statement from the assessee herein on 05-09-2002. It was noticed that the assessee herein was having a SB Account No. 3075 with Federal Bank, Poovarani Branch. In the sworn statement, the assessee stated that the said bank account actually belong to Shri J.K only. He further admitted that, except the initial two deposits, all other transactions were carried out by Shri J.K only. During the cours....
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....sions made by the Tribunal are extracted below for the sake of convenience: "10. We have heard the rival contentions on this issue. The admitted facts are that the bank account maintained with Federal Bank stands in the name of Shri Francis Joseph, the brother in law of the assessee herein. The assessee herein has introduced Shri Francis Joseph to the bank. According to Shri Francis Joseph, the said bank account was operated by the assessee herein and the said fact was not denied by the assessee. According to the assessee, he has operated the bank account only on behalf of Shri Francis Joseph, meaning thereby all the transactions belong to Shri Francis Joseph only. However, the claim of Shri Francis Joseph is that the assessee herein onl....
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.... reveal the credit worthiness of the assessee. On the other hand, Shri Francis Joseph is not assessed to income tax. In the sworn statement, he has stated that he was operating a Tata 407 mini Truck along with his brother for transporting fruits from Tamilnadu to Kerala. From these facts, it cannot be said that Shri Francis Joseph was a man of means. 10.4 Shri Francis Joseph has stated in his sworn statement that he handed over 60 blank signed cheque leaves to the assessee herein and this fact was not denied by the assessee, meaning thereby, the assessee herein was operating the bank account opened in the name of Shri Francis Joseph. The said fact was also corroborated by the AO by obtaining copies of cheques leaves and pay in slips from....
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....e;-vis the investments made by him. All these factors suggests that the assessee herein only could have operated the bank account standing in the name of Shri Francis Joseph by using his own funds. Thus, the surrounding circumstances, conduct of the assessee and human probabilities, in our view, prove that the impugned bank account belongs to the assessee herein. Hence, we do not have any hesitation to confirm the decision of Ld CIT(A) on this matter. 10.6 The Ld Counsel for the assessee mainly banked upon the contention that there was violation of principles of natural justice, since the assessee was not allowed to cross examine Shri Francis Joseph. It appears that the assessee is making this contention on the belief that the deposits m....
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....that the impugned bank account belongs to the assessee only. Accordingly, we are of the view that decision of the AO might not have changed, had he disregarded the sworn statement given by Shri Francis Joseph. Hence, the cross examination could not have changed the position. Accordingly, in our view, all the case law relied upon by the assessee shall not be applicable to the facts of the instant case. Accordingly, we hold that the tax authorities have corroborated the statement given by Shri Francis Joseph with sufficient material and surrounding circumstances. Accordingly we hold that the transactions found in the bank account, except the first two transactions, belong to the assessee only. 10.7 The Ld Counsel also contended that Shri F....