TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (10) TMI 2305
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....d by the Assessing Officer dated 23/12/2009 under section 143(3) r.w.s. 153A of the income Tax Act, 1961 (in short 'the Act'). In this appeal, assessee has raised the following Grounds of appeal:- "(1) On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld.CIT(A) erred in confirming the addition of Rs. 1,29,53,823/- in the assessment u/s.153A of the I.T. Act as no relevant or incriminating material or evidence was found or seized during the course of search reflecting undisclosed income. (2) On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the CIT(A) erred in confirming the addition of Rs. 1,29,53,823/- which was without any basis. (3) On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in c....
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.... in further appeal before us. 4. Before the CIT(A) as well as before us, assessee has assailed the addition on points of law as well as on facts. The first and foremost plea raised by the assessee is contained in the abovestated Ground of appeal No.1, whereby it is contended that the addition of Rs. 1,29,53,823/- made by the Assessing Officer is beyond the scope of assessment under section 153A of the Act in as much as no incriminating material or evidence was found or seized during the course of search, which could assail the genuineness of the impugned gifts received from two Non-Resident individuals. Since the aforesaid issue goes to the root of the matter, being jurisdictional issue, the same is being taken up at the thresh-hold. 5. I....
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....eliance has also been placed on the decision of the Tribunal in the case of the spouse of the assessee, Smt. Zeenat P. Sanghvi in ITA No.8026/Mum/2010 dated 19/12/2014, wherein under similar circumstances, it has been held that without referring to any incriminating material found during the course of search, no addition could be made in an assessment under section 153A of the Act in relation to an assessment year for which the assessment did not abate. 6. On the other hand, Ld. Departmental Representative appearing for the Revenue has defended the action of lower authorities by pointing out that the provisions of section 153A of the Act empower the AO to assess or re-assess the total income of six assessment years immediately preceding th....
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....d, the competence of the Assessing Officer to make the original assessment converges with the assessment to be made u/s.153A of the Act, i.e. only one assessment shall be made for such assessment years based on the findings of the search as well as any other material existing or brought on record by the Assessing Officer. Notably, there would assessments in the period of the six assessment years identified in section 153A(1) of the Act, which would have become final (i.e. not pending on the date of search); such assessments do not abate in terms of the second proviso to sec.153A(1) of the Act, The scope and ambit of such an assessment is the controversy before us. In this context, it would be pertinent to refer to the judgment of the Hon....
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.... of the Act. 7.1 In the present case, we have perused the orders of the lower authorities and find that there is nothing on record to suggest that any material was found during the course of search which would show that the impugned gifts received from the two Non-Resident individuals were in-genuine or were contrary to the stated position. Notably, the assessee has asserted before the lower authorities that gifts of Rs. 77,03,823/- from Shri Ashok Pamani and Rs. 52,50,000/-from Shri Raj Sitadas Motwani were received through banking channels. The assessee had furnished copies of the gift deeds, copies of the Passport and bank statement of the donees to establish the genuineness of the gifts. The discussion in the respective orders of the a....