TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (4) TMI 675
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....academic discussion only. 2. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the ld. CIT (A) erred in not declaring the assessment order as bad in law and void ab initio. The findings of 1dCIT(A) in this regard are perverse and erroneous. It is contended that the ld. AO passed the assessment order against the doctrine of "audialteimpartem", violating the principle of natural justice and not giving the opportunity of cross examination of the alleged accommodation entry providers, therefore the assessment order ought to held as bad in law and deserves to be annulled. 3. That the order of the ld CIT (A), confirming the addition made by the AO is arbitrary, whimsical, capricious, perverse, based on no evidence or irrelevant material or irrelevant evidence, and against the law and facts of the case. The addition confirmed by ld.CIT (A) deserves to be deleted. 4. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the ld. CIT (A) erred in confirming the additions made u/s 68 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 by : - a) solely relying on the statements of some alleged accommodation entry providers recorded by some other authorities in some other cases/actions an....
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....mount of Rs. 73,50,000/- was brought to tax as unexplained credits u/s 68 of the Act in respect of share capital and unsecured loan received by the assessee during the year. 3. Being aggrieved, the assessee carried the matter in appeal before the ld. CIT(A) who has deleted the addition made by the AO u/s 68 except an amount of Rs. 18,35,000/- received from M/s Jalsagar Commerce Pvt Ltd towards share capital and unsecured loan. Further disallowance made by the AO u/s 14A and addition towards unclaimed liability were also deleted by the ld. CIT(A). The assessee is now in appeal against the addition of Rs. 18,35,000/- sustained by the ld. CIT(A) u/s 68 of the Act. 4. At the outset, the ld. AR submitted that the facts and circumstances of the case are exactly identical to that of M/s Kota Dal Mills cases and is thus covered in favour of the assessee company by the decision of the Tribunal in case of M/s Kota Dal Mills vs DCIT (ITA No. 997 to 1002/JP/2018 & 1119/JP/18 dated 31.12.2018). The ld AR submitted that there is no incriminating material found during the course of search and seizure action. Therefore, the AO is not empowered to make any addition to the total income of the ....
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....ating material, the completed assessment can be reiterated and the abated assessment or reassessment can be made. Thus the ld. A/R has submitted that the AO has made the additions in the assessment under section 153A whereby the completed assessment has been disturbed without even referring to any incriminating material found or seized during the course of search and seizure under section 132 of the Act. The only basis of addition is the statement of third party recorded in the search of the third party that has no connection with the search proceedings of the assessee and, therefore, in the absence of any incriminating material found or seized during the search of the assessee, no addition can be made in the assessment framed under section 153A of the Act. 5. On the other hand, the ld. D/R submitted that the additions made to the total income of the assessee relate to the unexplained cash credit in the books of account introduced in the garb of share capital and unsecured loans which in fact is the re-routing of the assessee's undisclosed income. It is clearly evident from the innumerable evidences which came to the fore in the numerous investigations, enquiries, search and sur....
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....he decisions in the case of Kabul Chawla (supra) were challenged before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Hon'ble Supreme Court has admitted the SLP for examination of the issue. Hence the issue is still pending adjudication before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. He has relied upon the orders of the authorities below. Further, the ld DR fairly submitted that the facts and circumstances of the case are exactly identical to that of M/s Kota Dal Mills cases and is covered by the decision of the Tribunal in case of M/s Kota Dal Mills vs DCIT (supra). 6. We have heard the rival contentions and purused the material available on record. The assessee company has filed its original return of income on 19.09.2010 and the time limit for issuance of notice u/s 143(2) has expired on 30.09.2011. Undisputedly, the assessment for the impugned assessment year was not pending on the date of search on 02.07.2015 and not got abated by virtue of search under section 132 on the date of search. It is a settled proposition of law that the assessment or reassessment under section 153A in respect of the assessment year which have already been completed, the addition to the income that has already been assesse....
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....nitiation of search or making of requisition as the case may be, the assessment under section 153A would be in the nature of reassessment. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of CIT vs. Kabul Chawla while analyzing the provisions of section 153A read with section 132 of the Act has observed in para 37 and 38 as under :- "37. On a conspectus of Section 153A(1) of the Act, read with the provisos thereto, and in the light of the law explained in the aforementioned decisions, the legal position that emerges is as under: i. Once a search takes place under Section 132 of the Act, notice under Section 153 A(1) will have to be mandatorily issued to the person searched requiring him to file returns for six AYs immediately preceding the previous year relevant to the AY in which the search takes place. ii. Assessments and reassessments pending on the date of the search shall abate. The total income for such AYs will have to be computed by the AOs as a fresh exercise. iii. The AO will exercise normal assessment powers in respect of the six years previous to the relevant AY in which the search takes place. The AO has the power to assess and reassess the 't....
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....table to abated proceedings and the word "reassess" related to completed assessment proceedings. Therefore, the completed assessments can be interfered with by the AO while making the assessment under section 153A only on the basis of some incriminating material unearthed during the course of search or requisition of document or undisclosed income or property discovered in the course of search which were not produced or not already disclosed or made known in the course of original assessment. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court has reiterated its view in case of Principal CIT vs. Kurele Paper Mills (supra) in para 1 to 3 as under :- "1. The Revenue has filed the appeal against an order dated 14.11.2014 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in 3761/Del/2011 pertaining to the Assessment Year 2002-03. The question was whether the learned CIT (Appeals) had erred in law and on the facts in deleting the addition of Rs. 89 lacs made by the Assessing Officer under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('ACT') on bogus share capital. But, the issue was whether there was any incriminating material whatsoever found during the search to justify initiation of proceedings under....
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....these decisions were discussed threadbare in the decision of this Court in Kabul Chawla(supra). As far as Anil Kumar Bhatia (supra) was concerned, the Court in paragraph 24 of that decision noted that "we are not concerned with a case where no incriminating material was found during the search conducted under Section 132 of the Act. We therefore express no opinion as to whether Section 153A can be invoked even under such situation". That question was, therefore, left open. As far as Chetan Das Lachman Das (supra) is concerned, in para 11 of the decision it was observed: "11. Section 153A (1) (b) provides for the assessment or reassessment of the total income of the six assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which the search took place. To repeat, there is no condition in this Section that additions should be strictly made on the basis of evidence found in the course of the search or other post-search material or Information available with the Assessing Officer which can be related to the evidence found. This, however, does not mean that the assessment under Section 153A can be arbitrary or made without any relevance or n....
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....intricately linked with search and requisition under Sections 132 and 132A of the Act, it is apparent that: (a) the assessments or reassessments, which stand abated in terms of II proviso to Section 153A of the Act, the AO acts under his original jurisdiction, for which, assessments have to be made; (b) regarding other cases, the addition to the income that has already been assessed, the assessment will be made on the basis of incriminating material; and (c) in absence of any incriminating material, the completed assessment can be reiterated and the abated assessment or reassessment can be made." 34. The argument of the Revenue that the AO was free to disturb income de hors the incriminating material while making assessment under Section 153A of the Act was specifically rejected by the Court on the ground that it was "not borne out from the scheme of the said provision" which was in the context of search and/or requisition. The Court also explained the purport of the words "assess" and "reassess", which have been found at more than one place in Section 153A of the Act as under: "26. The plea raised on behalf of the assessee that as the first proviso provi....
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..... In other words there will be only one assessment order in respect of each of the six AYs "in which both the disclosed and the undisclosed income would be brought to tax". iv. Although Section 153 A does not say that additions should be strictly made on the basis of evidence found in the course of the search, or other post-search material or information available with the AO which can be related to the evidence found, it does not mean that the assessment "can be arbitrary or made without any relevance or nexus with the seized material. Obviously an assessment has to be made under this Section only on the basis of seized material." v. In absence of any incriminating material, the completed assessment can be reiterated and the abated assessment or reassessment can be made. The word 'assess' in Section 153 A is relatable to abated proceedings (i.e. those pending on the date of search) and the word 'reassess' to completed assessment proceedings. vi. Insofar as pending assessments are concerned, the jurisdiction to make the original assessment and the assessment under Section 153A merges into one. Only one assessment shall be made separately for each AY on the ....
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....ly the undisclosed income of the block period that was assessed, section 153A of the Act seeks to assess the total income for the assessment year, which is clear from the first proviso thereto which provides that the Assessing Officer shall assess or reassess the total income in respect of each assessment year falling within such six assessment years. The second proviso makes the intention of the Legislature clear as the same provides that assessment or reassessment, if any, relating to the six assessment years referred to in the subsection pending on the date of initiation of search under section 132 or requisition under section 132A, as the case may be, shall abate. Sub-section (2) of section 153A of the Act provides that if any proceeding or any order of assessment or reassessment made under sub-section (1) is annulled in appeal or any other legal provision, then the assessment or reassessment relating to any assessment year which had abated under the second proviso would stand revived. The proviso thereto says that such revival shall cease to have effect if such order of annulment is set aside. Thus, any proceeding of assessment or reassessment falling within the six assessment....
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....eedless to state that the scope and ambit of the assessment would include any order which the Assessing Officer could have passed under section 147 of the Act as well as under section 153A of the Act. ** ** ** 19. On behalf of the appellant, it has been contended that if any incriminating material is found, notwithstanding that in relation to the year under consideration, no incriminating material is found, it would be permissible to make additions and disallowance in respect of an the six assessment years. In the opinion of this court, the said contention does not merit acceptance, inasmuch as. the assessment in respect of each of the six assessment years is a separate and distinct assessment. Under section 153A of the Act, assessment has to be made in relation to the search or requisition, namely, in relation to material disclosed during the search or requisition. If in relation to any assessment year, no incriminating material is found, no addition or disallowance can be made in relation to that assessment year in exercise of powers under section 153A of the Act and the earlier assessment shall have to be reiterated. In this regard, this court is in complete ag....
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....espondent, that there are several distinguishing features in that case which makes its ratio inapplicable to the facts of the present case. In the first place, the Assessees there were engaged in the business of Pan Masala and Gutkha etc. The answers given to questions posed to the Assessee in the course of search and survey proceedings in that case bring out the points of distinction. In the first place, it was stated that the statement recorded was under Section 132(4) and not under Section 133A. It was a statement by the Assessee himself. In response to question no. 7 whether all the purchases made by the family firms, were entered in the regular books of account, the answer was: "We and our family firms namely M/s. Assam Supari Traders and M/s. Balaji Perfumes generally try to record the transactions made in respect of purchase, manufacturing and sales in our regular books of accounts but it is also fact that some time due to some factors like inability of accountant, our busy schedule and some family problems, various purchases and sales of Supari, Gutka and other items dealt by our firms is not entered and shown in the regular books of accounts maintained by our firm....
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....baseless. Given that the assessing authorities in such cases have to draw inferences, because of the nature of the materials - since they could be scanty (as one habitually concealing income or indulging in clandestine operations can hardly be expected to maintain meticulous books or records for long and in all probability be anxious to do away with such evidence at the shortest possibility) the element of guess work is to have some reasonable nexus with the statements recorded and documents seized. In tills case, the differences of opinion between the CIT (A) on the one hand and the AO and ITAT on the other cannot be the sole basis for disagreeing with what is essentially a factual surmise that is logical and plausible. These findings do not call for interference. The second question of law is answered again in favour of the revenue and against the assessee." 69. What weighed with the Court in the above decision was the "habitual concealing of income and indulging in clandestine operations" and that a person indulging in such activities "can hardly be accepted to maintain meticulous books or records for long." These factors are absent in the present case. There was no justifica....
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....the account books of the Assessee as alleged by the Revenue. This would have been evident had the return been picked up for scrutiny under Section 143(3) of the Act. This, therefore, was not material which was subsequently unearthed during the search which was not already available to the AO. Consequently, the additions sought to be made by the AO on account of security deposits were rightly deleted by the CIT (A)." Thus the essential corollary of these decisions is that no addition can be made in the proceedings under section 153A in respect of the assessments which were completed prior to the date of search except based on some incriminating material unearthed during the search which was not already available to the AO. It is pertinent to note that the SLP filed by the revenue against the decision of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in case of Principal CIT vs. Meeta Gutgutia was dismissed vide order dated 2nd July, 2018. There are series of decisions on this issue including the decision of Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in case of M/s. Jai Steel India vs. ACIT (supra) wherein the Hon'ble High Court has held in para 23 to 30 as under :- "23. The reliance placed by the counsel fo....
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....Section 153A. The time-limit prescribed for completion of an assessment or reassessment by Section 153 has also been done away with in a case covered by Section 153A. With all the stops having been pulled out, the Assessing Officer under Section 153A has been entrusted with the duty of bringing to tax the total income of an assessee whose case is covered by Section 153A, by even making reassessments without any fetters, if need be. 21. Now there can be cases where at the time when the search is initiated or requisition is made, the assessment or reassessment proceedings relating to any assessment year falling within the period of the six assessment years mentioned above, may be pending. In such a case, the second proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 153A says that such proceedings "shall abate". The reason is not far to seek. Under Section 153A, there is no room for multiple assessment orders in respect of any of the six assessment years under consideration. That is because the Assessing Officer has to determine not merely the undisclosed income of the assessee, but also the 'total income' of the assessee in whose case a search or requisition has been initiated. O....
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....) 24. The said judgment also in no uncertain terms holds that the reassessment of the total income of the completed assessments have to be made taking note of the undisclosed income, if any, unearthed during the search and the income that escaped assessments are required to be clubbed together with the total income determined in the original assessment and assessed as the total income. The observations made in the judgment contrasting the provisions of determination of undisclosed income under Chapter XIVB with determination of total income under Sections 153A to 153C of the Act have to be read in the context of second proviso only, which deals with the pending assessment/reassessment proceedings. The further observations made in the context of de novo assessment proceedings also have to be read in context that irrespective of the fact whether any incriminating material is found during the course of search, the notice and consequential assessment under Section 153A have to be undertaken. 25. The argument of the learned counsel that the AO is also free to disturb income, expenditure or deduction de hors the incriminating material, while making assessment under Section 153A of ....
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....sent case after deducting bogus gifts in the regular assessment proceedings, the proceedings for penalty were drawn under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act. The material found in the search may be a ground for notice and assessment under Section 153A of the Act but that would not efface or terminate all the consequence, which has arisen out of the regular assessment or reassessment resulting into the demand or proceedings of penalty." (Emphasis supplied) The said judgment which essentially deals with second proviso to Section 153A of the Act also supports the conclusion, which we have reached hereinbefore. 28. It has been observed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in K.P. Varghese v. ITO [1981] 131 ITR 597/7 Taxman 13 that "it is well recognized rule of construction that a statutory provision must be so construed, if possible that absurdity and mischief may be avoided." 29. The argument of the counsel for the appellant if taken to its logical end would mean that even in cases where the appeal arising out of the completed assessment has been decided by the CIT(A), ITAT and the High Court, on a notice issued under Section 153A of the Act, the AO would have power to undo w....
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....g on the date of search, therefore, it is manifest from the record that during the course of search and seizure under section 132 of the Act in the case of the assessee no material much less the incriminating material was unearthed or any undisclosed income which was not disclosed in the books of accounts was detected or found. The only incriminating material which was referred by the AO is pages 21 to 26 of Annexure AS-1 in respect of long term capital gain earned by Shri Rajendra Agarwal and his family members. The said long term capital gain was disclosed by Shri Rajendra Agarwal in his statement under section 132(4) and, therefore, it was surrendered and offered to tax by Shri Rajendra Agarwal and his family members in the year of search. The AO himself has not made any addition in the hand of the assessee on account of long term capital gain which was found during the course of search and seizure. Thus, except the material disclosing the long term capital gain in the hand of Shri Rajendra Agarwal, no other incriminating material either found or referred or is the basis of the addition made by the AO while framing the assessment under section 153A of the Act for the assessment ....
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....ction 68. Once assessee has submitted basic documents relating to identity, genuineness of transaction and creditworthiness then AO must do some inquiry to call for more details to invoke Section 68. b. The assessee firm has filed confirmation letters and this office has carried out further enquiry to examine the reality of the transactions. An enquiry was sent to the Investigation Directorate Kolkata and it has been established that these investor or lender Companies are controlled by the entry operators. The statements of various entry operators are sufficient evide4nces to show that the unsecured loan and partner's capital are assessee's own undisclosed income brought into the books of the assessee under the garb of unsecured loan and partner's capital. c. The department has carried out search over the assessee group and during the course of search action u/s 132 of the I.T. Act, 1961, the incriminating documents seized during search proceedings vide pg no. 21 to 26 of Annexure AS-1 of Party B-1, wherein the details of year-wise LTCG earned by Shri Rajendra Agrawal and his family members, is maintained, which during search action has been accepted to be bogus b....
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....nt of tax, if payable, is hereby issued. Penalty notice u/s 274 rws 271(1)(c) is issued separately." The entire finding of the AO is based on the information received from the Investigation Wing Kolkata and statement of Shri Anand Sharma. The ld. CIT (A) though has not disputed the legal proposition on this issue, however, the contention of the assessee was turned down merely on the ground that the SLPs filed by the revenue in the cases of Kabul Chawla (supra) and M/s. All Cargo Global Logistics (supra) etc. have been admitted for decision by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The relevant part of the finding of the ld. CIT (A) in para 3.2.2 and 3.2.4 at pages 35 and 36 are as under :- "3.2.2 As per the provisions of this section where a search is initiated u/s 132 of the Act, the A.O shall issue a notice requiring the person searched to furnish his return of income in respect of each assessment year falling within six assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which such search is conducted or requisition is made. Once such returns are filed, the AO has to assess or reassess the total income of such six assessment years. (emphasis sup....
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....garded as incriminating material unearthed during the course of search and seizure under section 132 of the IT Act in case of the assessee. The requirement for making the addition under section 153A in the assessment years where the assessment was not pending on the date of search and the proceedings are in the nature of reassessment is essentially the incriminating material disclosing undisclosed income which was not disclosed by the assessee. In the case in hand, the AO himself has not claimed any incriminating material found during the search and seizure in the case of the assessee. Accordingly, in the facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the binding precedents on this issue in which the SLP filed by the revenue was also dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the additions made by the AO while passing the assessment orders under section 153A for the assessment years 2010-11 to 13-14 are not sustainable and accordingly the same are liable to be deleted. We order accordingly." 7. In the instant case as well, the AO has solely relied upon the report of the Investigation Wing Kolkata and statement of one Shri Anand Sharma recorded by the Investigation Wing during t....
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....y. However, we find that M/s. Jalsagar Commerce Pvt. Ltd is not managed or controlled by Shri Anand Sharma, rather the company M/s. Royal Crystal Dealers Pvt. Ltd. was stated to have been owned by Shri Anand Sharma and in his statement dated 6th February, 2014 Shri Anand Sharma has stated to have been providing entries from M/s. Royal Crystal Dealers Pvt. Ltd. to M/s. Jalsagar Commerce Pvt. Ltd. Therefore, there is no allegation or any admission in the statement of Shri Anand Sharma that he has provided bogus loan entry to the assessee or any group concerns of the assessee. Since the name of M/s. Jalsagar Commerce was crepted in his statement, the AO has presumed that the loan provided by M/s. Jalsagar Commerce Pvt Ltd is nothing but the bogus accommodation entry provided by Shri Anand Sharma through M/s. Royal Crystal Dealers Pvt. Ltd. The AO has tried to establish the nexus of the loan received by the assessee through the statement of Shri Anand Sharma where he has purported to have provided the alleged entry. Since there is no direct allegation or admission of providing loan by Shri Anand Sharma to the assessee through M/s.Royal Crystal Dealers Pvt. Ltd., then even if there is a....
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....ent that the loan creditor was having sufficient funds to advance the loan amount to the assessee and once the said financial statements were not disturbed, then the creditworthiness of the loan creditor cannot be doubted when it was accepted in the assessment order passed under section 143(3) of the IT Act. We further note that the AO insisted the assessee to produce the directors of the loan provider company. The assesee produced the affidavit, and the notices issued by the AO under section 131 and 133(6) of the Act were duly complied with by the creditor. The statement of the Director of M/s. Royal Crystal Dealers Pvt. Ltd. was also recorded by the AO wherein the Director has confirmed the transaction of loan. There are various reports of the DDIT Kolkata which are placed at pages 406 to 422 of the paper book. We find that all these reports are based on the statements recorded during the investigation but no documentary evidence was either gathered or has been referred in these reports. Therefore, even if these reports are to be taken into consideration, these are nothing but narration of the statements of various persons taken during the investigation. It is well settled princi....