2019 (1) TMI 298
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....it u/s 68; involving proceedings u/s. 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961; in short 'the Act'. Heard all the assessees as well as the department reiterating their respective stands against and in support of the impugned unexplained cash credits addition(s). 2. It emerges at the outset that all these assessees have claimed to have derived LTCG from sale of shares held in M/s Unno Industries Ltd. (after amalgamation) in the relevant previous year to be exempt u/s 10(38) of the Act. The CIT(A)'s identical discussion in all these cases affirms Assessing Officer's action treating the same to be unexplained cash credits u/s 68 of the Act as follows:- 5. Decision: 5.1. Grounds I. 2 and 4: As all the grounds relate to the lone effective issue of addition of Rs. 9,40,715 made by the AO under section 68 of the IT Act, they are considered together. During the assessment proceedings, the AO noted that the appellant carried out sale transactions for an amount of rupees 9,95,200 in respect of 32,000 shares of Unno Industries Ltd. in the relevant financial year. The learned AD looked into the various details of the said transaction. The appellant submitted that the resultan....
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....ng all the facts and circumstances, the AO reached the conclusion that everything I.e., from purchase of stock to receiving of cheque for its sale was done in a systematic and organised manner to give it a real and legal colour by a group of persons (being the operators) on receipt of cash from the appellant. He, therefore, on consideration of the circumstantial evidences, natural human conduct and preponderance of probabilities reached a conclusion that the apparent in this case was not real and that these financial transactions were no real but sham ones and the entire edifice was a colourable device used to evade tax. In view the fact that the appellant failed to prove the source of the credit, and genuineness of the credit of the entire sum received in the garb of alleged capital gains, the AO proceeded to add the entire-sum received of rupees 9,40,715 as unexplained cash credit under section 68 of the IT Act. 5.1.4. During the appellate proceedings, the appellant submitted written submissions dated 22.02.2018 and 07.05.2018. The appellant primarily contends that as the purchase of the impugned shares have been effected by payment of cheque .through banking transaction....
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....ugh production of any broker note or copies thereof. If the transaction of purchase has been carried out directly with the party the copy of the transfer deed has also not been submitted. Thus, in the absence of any broker note, deed of transfer etc., the appellant has not been able to produce any evidence as to the actual purchase of the share. That the sum of Rs. 50,000 has gone from the appellant's bank account does not in any way prove the acquisition of such shares consequent to actual purchase by the appellant or actual delivery of the shares on the said date or thereafter in the absence of the acknowledgement by the seller of actual receipt of the funds in respect of actual delivery of shares from his demat account or folio evidencing receipt of the shares in appellant's name. Moreover, an equivalent amount of Rs. 50,000 has been deposited through transfer on the same day in the bank account. Thus, on facts, acquisition and holding of shares of M/s Baviscon Vincom Ltd. by the appellant from the said date of debit of alleged purchase sum from the bank account remains gravely in doubt. The fact that share bills show purchase of shares of a private limited company in co....
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....company which is very thinly traded and having no business name its worth: M/s Baviscon- Vincom Ltd. was Incorporated on 29.07.2009 but subsequently applied for amalgamation with Mls Unno Industries Ltd. In the year 2012 itself. Thus, during the brief period since its incorporation, the appellant allegedly purchased the shares of the said unlisted company which had no other purpose but to amalgamate with another company with in first few months of its incorporation. The appellant has no past history or expertise of share trading and as per the AO, from the case records and returns the appellant does not show substantial trading activity. This has not been rebutted with any evidence by the appellant during the appellate proceedings. Thus, picking a script of a company which is just incorporated a few months back without having knowledge of any financials or past record, without any insider information and yet timing to get the advantage of a bonus declaration and waiting to watch the company applying for amalgamation with another and ultimately selling it with an astronomical profit of an unusual 2,200 percent of its purchase price requires an expertise which the appellant is badly ....
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....Rs. 7.87 as on 31.03.2011. And yet, the appellant continued to hold the shares of M/s Baviscon Vincom Ltd. till the date of amalgamation and did not sell it. This is beyond the natural conduct of any rational shareholder. "Brief Audited Financial data of UIL for the last two years and Certified Financials as on 31st March 2012 are given hereunder: (Rs. In Lacs) Profit & Loss Statement 31.03.2012 31.03.201 31.03.2010 Income from operations 67.98 70.82 67.94 Other Income 1.87 0.00 0.00 Total income 69.85 70.82 67.94 Expenditure Cost of goods sold 3.29 0.00 0.00 Administrative, personnel and other expenses 38.87 31.94 32.46 Loss on F & O Transaction 25.28 30.98 25.28 Long Term Capital Loss 0.00 .32.50 0.00 Provision for NPA written back (14.11) (34.64) 5.22 Profit before depreciation, interest and tax 16.52 10.04 4.97 ....
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....s and conducts, the picking of shares of a company by the appellant, subsequent amalgamation of the same within a short period of time and subsequent sale of such shares leading to astronomical gains is highly coincidental and well-nigh impossible without there being any insider information or prearranged trading. It is noteworthy to quote the excerpts from the few case laws in this 5.1.13. It I noteworthy to quote the excerpts from the few case laws in this regard- "The doubtful nature of the transaction and the manner in which the sums were found credited in the books of accounts maintained by the assessee have been duly taken into consideration by the authorities below: The transactions though apparent were held to be not real one. May be the money came by way of bank cheques and paid through the process of banking transaction but that itself is of no consequence." (Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. P. Mohanakala)(SC) 5.1.14. In identical circumstances, the Nagpur bench of the ITAT In the case of Sanjay Bimalchand Jain versus the ITO in LT.A. No. 61/Nag/2013 observed as below- "All the authorities below, in particular the Tribunal, have observed ....
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....erm capital gain. In this regard I may gainfully refer to the decision of Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of Major Metals Ltd. vs. Union of India and others in Writ Petition No. 397 of 2011 vide order dated 22nd February, 2012. The Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in this case has held that a company cannot command disproportionate and huge share premium and such receipt of bogus share application money even though through banking channel can be held to be assessee's undisclosed income received in the garb of unjustified share application money. In the present case I find that there is no justification whatsoever that the shares of an unknown company of Rs. 5/- can be sold within two years' time at Rs. 485/- without there being any reason on record. This unexplained spurt in the value of unknown company shares is beyond preponderance of probability. It has been held by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Durga Prasad More and Sumati Dayal that the test of human probabilities have also to be applied by the authorities below. In the case of Sumati Dayal 214 ITR 801, it was held that during the year 1970-71 (pertaining to the assessment year 1....
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.... did not respond to queries in this regard. Hence the fantastic sale price realisation is not at all humanly probably, as there is no economic or financial basis, that a share of little known company would jump from Rs. 5/- to 485/-, In these circumstances, I do not find any infirmity in the orders of the authorities below. Accordingly I affirm the same and decide the issue against the assessee. " 5.1.15. It is noteworthy to mention that the above referred decision has since been affirmed by the honourable Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in INCOME TAX APPEAL NO. 18/2017 in the case of SANJAY BIMAlCHAND JAIN L/H SHANTIDEVI BIMALCHAND JAIN ,VERSUS THE PR.COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX-I,NAGPUR & ANOTHER. 5.1.16. On identical circumstances, the Honourable Mumbai Tribunal in the case of Ratnakar M. Pujari versus ITO in I .T.A. No.995/Mum/2012 observes as followsITA No.1918-1922/Kol/2018 A.Y 2014-15 Page 9 "We have considered the rival contentions and also perused the material available We have observed that no scrutiny assessment has been framed for the impugned assessment year by the Revenue u/s 143(3) of the Act originally, while based on information rece....
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....ent year 2005-06 and hence the finding of the AO has attained finality. Since the said findings of the AO with respect to purchases of 4000 shares of M/s Shiv Om Investment and Consultancy Limited in assessment year 2005-06 have become conclusive having attained finality, the sales in consequence thereof the sham and bogus purchases cannot be accepted as genuine. The assessee has explained that the purchases were backed with contract notes of the brokers and payments were made in cash will not be of any help at this stage as the said findings of the AO treating the purchase of shares as sham and bogus in the assessment year.200S-06 has attained finality, Since, purchases are held to be bogus and sham which has attained finality, the sale in consequence thereof whereby payments are received through cheque or shares being sold through stock exchange are not of any help to the assessee for claiming the exemption as long term capital gains as the allegation of the Revenue is that the assessee has in collusion with the Brokers has manipulated and camouflaged the entire transactions of sale and purchase of shares in getting issued pre-dated contract notes for purchases of shares for whic....
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....of the authorities below. The Revenue in the case of the assessee's brother has also declared the purchase and sale of shares as bogus but brought to tax, gains arising from sale of shares as short term capital gains. This in our considered view, is also not of help as the Revenue in the instant case has come to the conclusive finding which attained finality that the transactions of purchase of shares are sham and bogus transactions camouflaged with an intention to evade taxes . We order accordingly. " 5.1.17. In similar circumstances, the Honourable Ahmedabad Tribunal in the case of Kamalchand Nathmal Lunia Vs. ITO, Ward-S(2), Surat in ITA number ITA 436/Ahd/2013 observed as follows- ''After hearing both the sides and considering the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, we are also of the opinion that the purchase as well as the sale transactions of the scrips in question was not genuine. The reason for taking this view is that the purchase rate had not tallied with the rate as per BSE website and that the purchases have also been made in cash. Only paper transactions have been made because there was no evidence of physical delivery of....
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....ecuted by him or executed in his favour then the door will be left wide open to the evade tax. A little probing was sufficient in the present case to show that the apparent was not the real. The taxing authorities were not required to put on blinkers while looking at the documents produced before them. They were entitled to look into the surrounding circumstances to find out the reality of the recitals made in those documents." 5.1.20. On going through the case-laws relied upon by the appellant, I observe that all of them are distinguishable on facts as the genuineness of the purchase of shares Is not proven in the Instant case and the period of holding as stated is not also proven with any verifiable evidence. 5.1.21. Thus, from the facts and circumstances of the case and the Catena of case laws referred to above, I come to the conclusion that on the basis of documentary evidences, circumstantial evidences, human conduct and preponderance of probabilities what appears to be apparent in this case is actually not real. I affirm the conclusion reached by the AO in this regard that the financial transactions are actually sham and the entire edifice is only a colourab....
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.... 4. I find no merit in either of the Revenue's above stated submissions. It emerges that this tribunal's co-ordinate bench's decision in Sanjay Mehta vs. ACIT ITA No.1089/Kol/2018 decided on 28.09.2018 has deleted identical addition of LTCG treated as unexplained cash credits regarding the very scrip as follows:- "5. We have given our thoughtful consideration to rival contentions. Case file as well as a compilation of judicial precedent stand perused. Learned Departmental Representative emphasizes time and again that the instant issue of bogus LTCG has rightly been decided against the assessee in both assessment as well as lower appellate proceedings raised pertaining to artificial manipulation of share prices in both M/s Unno Industries Ltd. & Sharp Trading Finance Ltd. We find no force in Revenue's instant argument. This tribunal coordinate bench's decision in ITA 2394/Kol/2017 Prakash Chand Bhutoria vs. ITO decided on 27.06.2018 for AY 2014-15 itself upholds such a share prices increase to be genuine qua the above former entity as under:- 5. In response to the queries raised by the assessing officer on the issue of the fact that the assessee received Rs. 31,62....
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....DP ID No. 12034500) Demat account No. 1203450000003128 Address of DP-Trinity, 7th Floor, 226/1, A.J.C. Bose Road, Kolkata-700020. DP Account opened on-31.08.2004 b) Name of DP- Guiness Securities Ltd. (DP ID No. IN302898) Demat account No. 10350406 Address of DP-Guiness House, 18, Deshpriya Park Road, Kolkata-700026. DP A/c opened on-25.05.2013 c) Name of DP- Tamilnad Mercantile Bank ltd. (DP ID No. IN303069) Demat account No. 10051996 Address of DP-Pearl Towers DPS Cell, AC 16, III Floor, II Avenue, Anna Nagar West, Chennai-600040. 9. Demat Statements of M/s Ashika Stock Broking Ltd. and Guiness Securities Ltd. for f.y. 2013-14 and 2014-15 in respect of long term capital gains are enclosed. Annexure IV. 10. The Equity Shares of M/s Unno Industries Ltd. were submitted for dematerialization on 01.04.2013 and credited to my Demat A/c No. 1203450000003128 with M/s Ashika Stock Broking Ltd. (DP ID No. 12034500) on 12.04.2013 (91000 shares). Details of Sale of Share for Long Term Capital Gain financial year 2013-14(A.Y.2014- 15): 1. The equity shares of M/s Unno Industries Ltd. are listed at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a recognized Stock Exc....
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.... Thus a deeper study was needed to ascertain whether the transactions were genuine investment transaction of sham ones and colorable device only to convert the unaccounted cash into tax exempt. 7. Apart from this, the directorate of income tax, Kolkata various enquiries have been made on project basis, which has resulted into the unearthing of huge syndicate of entry operators, share brokers and money lender involved in providing bogus accommodation entries of Long Term Capital gain and short term capital loss. It has come to the light that large scale manipulation has been done in market price of shown of certain companies listed in the BSE by certain beneficiary is utilized to purchase shares of such company at a very high artificially inflated market price. Some of the listed companies directly or in directly owned by operators and whose shares price have been apparently manipulated by the syndicate of operators. Out of the above enquiry made by DIT(Inv.), Kolkata has established that one of the main manipulated company which you had availed is also under this syndicate. Hence, it is crystal clear that Sharp Trading Company is one of the main manipulated company (Penny ....
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....the shop increase of 31000% of the value of shares over the period of 2 years. Though this is highly suspicious, it cannot take the place of evidence. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has stated that suspicion however strong cannot be the basis for making an addition. The evidence produced by the assessee listed above proves his case and the AO could not controvert the same by bringing on record any evidence. The evidence said to have been collected by the DIT (INV.), Kolkata and the report is not produced before this Bench. 10. I now discuss the case law on the subject. The Hon'ble Calcutta High Court in the case of CIT, Kolkata-III vs. Smt. Shreyashi Ganguli reported in [2012] (9) TMI 1113 held as follows: "1. Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case, the order of the Ld.. Tribunal is perverse in law as well as on facts in deleting the addition made by the Assessing Officer as unexplained cash credit under section 68 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, by ignoring the facts on record. The ld. Tribunal after considering the material and hearing came to a fact finding which is as follows: The Assessing Officer has doubted the transaction since th....
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....e transactions or were resorted to with ulterior motive. (iii) CIT V. Shreyashi Ganguli [ITA No. 196 of 2012] (Cal HC) - In this case the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court held that the Assessing Officer doubted the transactions since the selling broker was subjected to SEBI's action. However the transactions were as per norms and suffered STT, brokerage, service tax, and cess. There is no iota of evidence over the transactions as it were reflected in demat account. The appeal filed by the revenue was dismissed. (iv) CIT V. Rungta Properties Private Limited [ITA No. 105 of 2016] (Cal HC) - In this case the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court affirmed the decision of this tribunal , wherein, the tribunal allowed the appeal of the assessee where the AO did not accept the explanation of the assessee in respect of his transactions in alleged penny stocks. The Tribunal found that the AO disallowed the loss on trading of penny stock on the basis of some information received by him. However, it was also found that the AO did not doubt the genuineness of the documents submitted by the assessee. The Tribunal held that the AO's conclusions are merely based on the information received by ....
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....he evidence clearly support the claim of the assessee that the transactions of the assessee were genuine and the authorities below was not justified in rejecting the claim of the assessee that income from LTCG is exempted u/s 10(38) of the Act. For coming to such a conclusion we rely on the decision of the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court in the case of M/s. Alipine Investments in ITA No.620 of 2008 dated 26th August, 2008 wherein the High Court held as follows : "It appears that there was loss and the whole transactions were supported by the contract notes, bills and were carried out through recognized stock broker of the Calcutta Stock Exchange and all the bills were received from the share broker through account payee which are also filed in accordance with the assessment. It appears from the facts and materials placed before the Tribunal and after examining the same, the tribunal allowed the appeal by the assessee. In doing so the tribunal held that the transactions cannot be brushed aside on suspicion and surmises. However it was held that the transactions of the shares are genuine. Therefore we do not find that there is any reason to hold that there is n....
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....was a holding period of 7 years as per Section 49 of the Act and it cannot be said that the assessee and the Donors were making such plans for the last 7 years to rig the stock price to generate bogus capital gains that too without any evidences whatsoever. 9.2 It is also pertinent to note that the assessee and / or the stock broker M/s P Didwania & Co and Toshith Securities P Ltd., both registered share and stock brokers with Calcutta Stock Exchange had confirmed the transaction and have issued legally valid contract notes under the Law and such contract notes are available in pages 41- 52 of the Paper Book. We find that the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court in the case of Pr CIT Vs Rungta Properties Private Limited ITAT No 105 of 2016 dated 8th May 2017 in a similar issue dismissed the appeal of the Department by making the following observations: (11) On the last point, the Tribunal held that the Assessing Officer had not brought on records any material to show that the transactions in shares of the company involved were false or fictitious. It is finding of the assessing officer that the scrips of this company was executed by a broker through cross deals and the bro....
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....see's claim of exemption under section 10(38) of the Act. We also find that the ld CITA rightly relied on the decision of the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta in the case of ALPINE INVESTMENTS in ITA No. 620 of 2008 dated 26th August 2008 wherein the Hon'ble Court held as follows: "It appears that the share loss and the whole transactions were supported by contract notes, bills and were carried out through recognized stockbroker of the Calcutta Stock Exchange and all the payments made to the stockbroker and all the payments received from stockbroker through account payee instruments, which were also filed in accordance with the assessment. It appears from the facts and materials placed before the Tribunal and after examining the same the Tribunal came to the conclusion and allowed the appeal filed by the assessee. In doing so, the Tribunal held that the transaction fully supported by the documentary evidences could not be brushed aside on suspicion and surmises. However, it was held that the transactions of share are genuine. Therefore, we do not find that there is any reason to hold that there is any substantial question of law involved in this matter. Hence, the a....
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....s on record and order of the lowers authorities below, as well as case law cited, we hold as follows. 11. The assessee in this case has stated the following facts and produced the following documents as evidences: 1. The assessee had made an application for allotment of 50000 equity shares of "Smart champs IT and Infra Ltd." and she was allotted the share on 3rd December 2011 (copy of Application form, intimation of allotment and share certificate Paper Book at page 8 to 10). 2. The payment for the allotment of shares was made through an account payee cheque (copy of the bank statement evidencing the source of money and payment made to "Smart Champs IT & Infra Ltd." for such shares allotted is placed in the Paper Book at page no. 11). 3. Annual return no. 20B was filed with Registrar of companies by "Smart Champs IT & Infra Ltd" showing the assessee's name as shareholder (copy of annual return no. 20B filed with Registrar of companies by "Smart Champs IT & Infra Ltd. "is placed in the Paper Book at page no. 12 to 18.) 4. The assessee lodged the said shares with the Depository M/s. Eureka Stock & Share Broking Services Ltd. with a Demat r....
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....13. The issue for consideration before us is whether, in such cases, the legal evidence produced by the assessee has to guide our decision in the matter or the general observations based on statements, probabilities, human behavior and discovery of the modus operandi adopted in earning alleged bogus LTCG and STCG, that have surfaced during investigations should guide the authorities in arriving at a conclusion as to whether the claim in genuine or not. An alleged scam might have taken place on LTCG etc. But it has to be established in each case, by the party alleging so, that this assessee in question was part of this scam. The chain of events and the live link of the assessee's action giving her involvement in the scam should be established. The allegation imply that cash was paid by the assessee and in return the assessee received LTCG, which is income exempt from income tax, by way of cheque through Banking channels. This allegation that cash had changed hands, has to be proved with evidence, by the revenue. Evidence gathered by the Director Investigation's office by way of statements recorded etc. has to also be brought on recording each case, when such a statement, evidence et....
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....oving a transaction to be bogus has to be strictly discharged by adducing legal evidences, which would directly prove the fact of bogusness or establish circumstance unerringly and reasonably raising an interference to that effect. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Umacharan Shah & Bros. Vs. CIT 37 ITR 271 held that suspicion however strong, cannot take the place of evidence. In this connection we refer to the general view on the topic of conveyance of immovable properties. The rates/sale price are at variance with the circle rates fixed by the Registration authorities of the Government in most cases and the general impression is that cash would have changed hands. The courts have laid down that judicial notice of such notorious facts cannot be taken based on generalisations. Courts of law are bound to go by evidence. 16. We find that the assessing officer as well as the Ld. CIT(A) has been guided by the report of the investigation wing prepared with respect to bogus capital gains transactions. However, we do not find that the assessing officer as well as the Ld. CIT(A), have brought out any part of the investigation wing report in which the assessee has been in....
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.... great receiving centre for such commodities were merely a background of suspicion and the appellant could not be tarred with the same brush as every arhatdar and grain merchant who might have been indulging in smuggling operations, without an iota of evidence in that behalf. The cancellation of the food grain licence at Nawgachia and the prosecution of the appellant under the Defence of India Rules was also of no consequence inasmuch as the appellant was acquitted of the offence with which it had been charged and its licence also was restored. The mere possibility of the appellant earning considerable amounts in the year under consideration was a pure conjecture on the part of the Income-tax Officer and the fact that the appellant indulged in speculation (in Kalai account) could not legitimately lead to the inference that the profit in a single transaction or in a chain of transactions could exceed the amounts, involved in the high denomination notes,--- this also was a pure conjecture or surmise on the part of the Income-tax Officer. As regards the disclosed volume of business in the year under consideration in the head office and in branches the Income-tax Officer indulged in sp....
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....e evidence of the opposite party should be taken in his presence, and that he should be given the opportunity of cross-examining the witnesses examined by that party. Not providing the said opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, would violate the principles of natural justice. (See also: Union of India v. T.R. Varma, AIR 1957 SC 882; Meenglas Tea Estate v. Workmen, AIR 1963 SC 1719; M/s. Kesoram Cotton Mills Ltd. v. Gangadhar and Ors. ,AIR 1964 SC708; New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Nusli Neville Wadia and Anr. AIR 2008 SC 876; Rachpal Singh and Ors. v. Gurmit Singh and Ors. AIR 2009 SC 2448;Biecco Lawrie and Anr. v. State of West Bengal and Anr. AIR 2010 SC 142; and State of Uttar Pradesh v.Saroj Kumar Sinha AIR 2010 SC 3131). 24. In Lakshman Exports Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise (2005) 10 SCC 634, this Court, while dealing with a case under the Central Excise Act, 1944,considered a similar issue i.e. permission with respect to the cross-examination of a witness. In the said case, the Assessee had specifically asked to be allowed to cross-examine the representatives of the firms concern, to establish that the goods in question had been accounted for in their books ....
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.... of the principles of natural justice." b) Andaman Timber Industries vs. Commissioner of C. Ex., Kolkata-II wherein it was held that: "4. We have heard Mr. Kavin Gulati, learned senior counsel appearing for the Assessee, and Mr. K.Radhakrishnan, learned senior counsel who appeared for the Revenue. 5. According to us, not allowing the Assessee to cross-examine the witnesses by the Adjudicating Authority though the statements of those witnesses were made the basis of the impugned order is a serious flaw which makes the order nullity inasmuch as it amounted to violation of principles of natural justice because of which the Assessee was adversely affected. It is to be borne in mind that the order of the Commissioner was based upon the statements given by the aforesaid two witnesses. Even when the Assessee disputed the correctness of the statements and wanted to cross-examine, the Adjudicating Authority did not grant this opportunity to the Assessee. It would be pertinent to note that in the impugned order passed by the Adjudicating Authority he has specifically mentioned that such an opportunity was sought by the Assessee. However, no such opportunity was gra....
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....in its books of accounts and offered for taxation. In our view to hold a transaction as bogus, there has to be some concrete evidence where the transactions cannot be proved with the supportive evidence. Here in the case the transactions of the commodity exchanged have not only been explained but also substantiated from the confirmation of the party. Both the parties are confirming the transactions which have been duly supported with the books of accounts and bank transactions. The ld. AR has also submitted the board resolution for the trading of commodity transaction. The broker was expelled from the commodity exchange cannot be the criteria to hold the transaction as bogus. In view of above, we reverse the order of the lower authorities and allow the common grounds of assessee's appeal." [quoted verbatim] This is essentially a finding of the Tribunal on fact. No material has been shown to us who would negate the Tribunal's finding that off market transactions are not prohibited. As regards veracity of the transactions, the Tribunal has come to its conclusion on analysis of relevant materials. That being the position, Tribunal having analyzed the set off acts in coming to....
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.... d) The BENCH "D"OF KOLKATAITAT in the case of GAUTAM PINCHA [ITA No.569/Kol/2017]order dated 15.11.2017 held as under vide Page 12 Para 8.1: "In the light of the documents stated i.e. (I to xiv) in Para 6(supra) we find that there is absolutely no adverse material to implicate the assessee to have entered gamut of unfounded/unwarranted allegations leveled by the Assessing Officer against the assessee, which in our considered opinion has no legs to stand and therefore has to fall. We take note that the ld. DR could not controvert the facts supported with material evidences which are on record and could only rely on the orders of the AO/CIT (A). We note that in the absence of material/evidence the allegations that the assessee/brokers got involved in price rigging/manipulation of shares must therefore also fail. At the cost of repetition, we note that the assessee had furnished all relevant evidence in the form of bills, contract notes, demat statement and bank account to prove the genuineness of the transactions relevant to the purchase and sale of shares resulting in long term capital gain. These evidences were neither found by the AO nor by the ld. CIT (A) to be f....
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....ed in rejecting the claim of the assessee exempted u/s 10(38) of the Act on the basis of suspicion, surmises and conjectures. It is to be kept in mind that suspicion how so ever strong, cannot partake the character of legal evidence. It further held as follows: "We note that the ld. AR cited plethora of the case laws to bolster his claim which are not being repeated again since it has already been incorporated in the submissions of the ld. AR (supra) and have been duly considered to arrive at our conclusion. The ld. DR could not bring to our notice any case laws to support the impugned decision of the ld. CIT(A)/AO. In the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, we hold that the ld. CIT(A) was not justified in upholding the addition of sale proceeds of the shares as undisclosed income of the assessee u/s 68 of the Act. We therefore direct the AO to delete the addition." f) The BENCH "A"OF KOLKATAITAT in the case of SHALEENKHEMANI [ITA No.1945/Kol/2014]order dated 18.10.2017 held as under vide Page 24 Para 9.3: "We therefore hold that there is absolutely no adverse material to implicate the assessee to the entire gamut of unwarranted allega....
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....oordinate bench, wherein on similar facts and circumstances, issue was decided in favour of the assessee, came to the conclusion that transaction entered by the assessee was genuine. Detailed finding recorded by CIT (A) at para 3 to 5 has not been controverted by the department by bringing any positive material on record. Accordingly, we do not find any reason to interfere in the findings of CIT (A)." h)The Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of VIVEK MEHTA [ITA No. 894 OF2010] order dated 14.11.2011 vide Page 2 Para 3 held as under: "On the basis of the documents produced by the assessee in appeal, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal) recorded a finding of fact that there was a genuine transaction of purchase of shares by the assessee on 16.3.2001 and sale thereof on 21.3.2002. The transactions of sale and purchase were as per the valuation prevalent in the Stocks Exchange. Such finding of fact has been recorded on the basis of evidence produced on record. The Tribunal has affirmed such finding. Such finding of fact is sought to be disputed in the present appeal. We do not find that the finding of fact recorded by the Commissioner of Income Tax i....
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