TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (9) TMI 1577
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....d under section 143(1) of the Act. Subsequently the information was received from DCIT, Central Circle-I Ludhiana vide letter dated 30.09.2011 that during search operation under section 132(1) of the Income Tax Act conducted on 21.02.2008 at the residence of Shri Suresh Khanna and Shri Rupinder Deep Singh, Directors of M/s Basera Realtors Pvt. Ltd. and also of other persons, certain incriminating documents were found and seized. The Assessing Officer reopened the assessment under section 148 of the Act and made addition of Rs. 25,73,900/- on the basis of photo copy of unsigned agreement found during the course of search and transferred to the Assessing Officer. 3. The assessee challenged the re-opening of the assessment and addition of Rs.....
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.... and some cheques found tallied with the sale deed and the agreement found during the course of search. The appeal of the assessee was, accordingly, dismissed. 5. I have heard ld. Representatives of both the parties and perused the material on record. The Assessing Officer reopened the assessment under section 147 of the Act by recording the following reasons, copy of which is filed at page 1 of the Paper Book : 1.Name & Address of the assessee : Shri Satnam Singh S/o Shri.Ranjit Singh,B-20/3152, Gurdev Nagar, Ludhiana. 2. Permanent Account No. : ACFPS2754L 3. Status : 01(Individual) 4. Assessment year : 2008-09 5. Date : 09.11.2011 Reasons recorded for issue of notice u/s 148 for the belief that the income has escaped assessme....
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....r Ward-VI(3), Ludhiana." 6. It is well settled law that validity of the re-opening of assessment shall have to be decided on the basis of the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer for reopening of the assessment. It is admitted fact that during the course of search conducted on 21.02.2008 at the residential premises of Directors of M/s Basera Realtors Pvt. Ltd. and others, photo copy of the unsigned agreement between Shri Gurinderjit Singh etc. and Shri Satnam Singh (assessee) was found, copy of which is filed at page 4-5 of the Paper Book and translated copy at page 6 of the Paper Book. It is, therefore, admitted that the seized document is photo copy of unsigned agreement, therefore, neither the seller nor the purchaser and witnesse....
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....r for re-opening of the assessment. Since the seized document is not found from the possession of the assessee and admittedly the assessee had not signed the agreement in question and since he had not signed the agreement, no liability could be attributed qua that agreement towards him, since he was not a party to the agreement till he had signed the agreement. The decisions in the cases of Kulwant Rai (supra) and Smt. Darshan Kaur (supra) squarely apply to the fact of the case since photo copy of unsigned agreement was found, therefore, it cannot be read in evidence against the assessee It is not a valid document to be considered adverse in nature against the assessee, therefore, there is no reason to believe for the Assessing Officer to h....