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2021 (6) TMI 712
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....e hearing of appeal." Brief Facts 1. The appellant, an individual filed return of income for Assessment Year 2017-18 on 13/03/2018, declaring total income of Rs. 1,30,810/-. 2. During the period of demonetization, the assessee deposited the cash of Rs. 211500 /-in our bank account. It was the case of the assessee that the assessee had collected/ saved the above said sum from her previous saving, given by her husband, son, relatives for the purposes of her and family future. 3. The case of the assessee was selected for scrutiny assessment for the reason that the cash was deposited in the bank after the demonetization scheme, announced by the revenue. 4. During the course of assessment proceedings, the appellant was asked to explain the cash deposits of Rs. 2,11,500/- in the Nagrik Sahkari Bank, made during the period of demonetization from 09/11/2016 to 30/12/2016. 5. In response to the notice issued by AO the assessee filed the reply to the notice . It was submitted by the assessee that the assessee has no business activities in a name and she only on the income from interest on her saving. 6. The assessee was asked to produce the evidence in support of her cas....
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....al is dismissed." 9. Feeling aggrieved by the order passed by the NFAC on 25.03.2021, the assessee is in appeal before us on the grounds mentioned hereinabove 10. The Ld.AR for the assessee had made elaborate submissions on the aspect of the income/notional income of the housewives. He had submitted that the housewives are doing innumerable economic activities, if those activities are hired from outside, then huge sum would be required to get the same kind of services. He had explained that women gives birth to the child, take care of the family, cook food, maintain house, manage finances of kitchen, contribute in household business/work, work in the field, discharge duties as nurse, teacher, caretaker etc. Thereafter had submitted that though house wife are normally not going out of home for earning but they are financially contributing in the families by means of above service . He had submitted that for the selfless and caring nature of House wife , they are not charging any amount for the services. 11. He further emphasized that it is a matter of common knowledge that, mother/wife and other ladies are saving money/ funds received by them either from the family or husba....
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....onfirmed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre are required to be struck down. 15. Per contra DR for the revenue had vehemently relied upon the order passed by the assessing officer as well as by the CIT (A). 16. We have considered the rival contention of the parties and perused the material available on record, including the judgments cited at bar during hearing by both the parties. In Indian culture women have special place, this had been recognised from the time of Vedas and Purans. To illustrate it is mentioned in Manusmriti that यत्र नाययस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवतााः । यत्रैतास्तु न पूज्यन्ते सवायस्तत्राफलााः क्रियााः ।। मनु....
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....t, on an average, women spend nearly 299 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services for household members versus 97 minutes spent by men on average. Similarly, in a day, women on average spend 134 minutes on unpaid caregiving services for household members as compared to the 76 minutes spent by men on average.3 The total time spent on these activities per day makes the picture in India even more clear women on average spent 16.9 and 2.6 percent of their day on unpaid domestic services and unpaid caregiving services for household members respectively, while men spent 1.7 and 0.8 percent.4 9. It is curious to note that this is not just a phenomenon unique to India, but is prevalent all over the world. A 2009 Report by a Commission set up by the French Government, analyzing data from six countries, viz. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Finland and the United States of America, highlighted similar findings: "117. Gender differences in time use are significant. In each of the countries under consideration, men spend more time in paid work than women and the converse is true for unpaid work. Men also spend more time on leisure than women. The implication is that w....
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....e rendered in exchange for wages, whether in the factory or in the home, but do not enter into it when they are rendered by mothers and wives gratuitously to their own families. Thus, if a man marries his housekeeper or his cook, the national dividend is diminished".^6 2. This issue was further focused on by those in the field of feminism economics in the 1970s and 1980s, who criticized the traditional labour statistics which did not consider unpaid domestic work and therefore undervalued women's role in the economy.^7 13. On considering the growing awareness around this issue, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women adopted General Recommendation No. 17 on the "Measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition in the gross national product" in 1991. The General Recommendation affirmed that "the measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women, which contribute to development in each country, will help to reveal the de facto economic role of women". 14. It is worth noting that the above General Recommendation is passed in furtheranc....
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....s to fix an approximate economic value for all the work that a homemaker does, impossible though that task may be. Courts must keep in mind the idea of awarding just compensation in such cases, looking to the facts and circumstances [See R.K. Malik v. Kiran Pal, (2009) 14 SCC 1]." 20. Further as per a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) study, 80% of women in India don't have bank accounts, as of 2014-15. Women (across socioeconomic groups) are often accompanied by male relatives who deal with banking officials to open a new bank account, make deposits, etc. on behalf of their female relatives. Documents carrying the name/signature of a father or a husband are often a requirement. Opening and operating accounts on mobile wallets requires mobile phones (preferably smartphones equipped with access to the internet) to begin with, which several women may not even own. Therefore, in essence, women require the consent of male relatives to access formal financial channels, whereas cash offers them a certain amount of independence. 21. Only after Hon'ble PM initiative of Jandhan Yojana , impetus was given to open the bank account with more focus on rural areas and women. ....
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....tances where people are using other persons' bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes for which reward is also being given to the account holders who agree to allow their accounts to be used. This activity has been reported in case of Jan-Dhan Accounts also. It is hereby clarified that such tax evasion activities can be made subject to Income Tax and penalty if it is established that the amount deposited in the account was not of the account holder but of somebody else. Also the person who allows his or her account to be misused for this purpose can be prosecuted for abetment under Income Tax Act. However, genuine persons depositing their own household savings in cash into their bank accounts would not be questioned. The people are requested not to get lured by black money converters and be a partner in this crime of converting black money into white through this method. Unless all citizens of the country help the Government in curbing black money, this mission of black money will not succeed. Also the people who are against the black money should give information of such illegal activities going on to the Income Tax departme....
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....or claim has expired. Thus, the Board is empowered to authorise the Commissioner of Income-tax Officer to admit such application or claim even after the time limit and to deal with it, in accordance with law. 12. In State of M.P. v. G.S. Dall and Flour Mills, AIR 1991 SC 772 ; [1991] 187 ITR 478, the apex court held that executive instructions can supplement a statute or cover areas to which the statute does not extend but they cannot run contrary to the statutory provisions or whittle down their effect. In Kerala Financial Corporation v. CIT [1994] 210 ITR 129 (SC); AIR 1994 SC 2416, following the opinion of Mukharji J. at paragraph 42 in State Bank of Travancore v. CIT [1986] 158 ITR 102 (SC); AIR 1986 SC 757, that circulars "cannot detract from the Act", the apex court held that a circular of the Board under section 119 cannot override or detract from the Act inasmuch as, what section 119 has empowered is to issue orders, instructions or directions for the proper administration of the Act or for such other purpose specified in sub-section (2) of that section and that such an order, instruction or direction cannot override the provisions of the Act which would be destruc....
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....ticle may be deemed to be the income of the assessee for such financial year.] 27. From the reading of the above said provision makes it abundantly clear that the requirement of the section is that money or other asset must be "found "and the assessee is found to be owner of article specified in the section. Further this provision provides that if the assessee offers no explanation about the nature and source of acquisition of money etc or the explanation offered by the assessee, in the opinion of the AO is not satisfactory then the assessing officer "may" deem such money etc as income of the assessee for such financial year. 28. In the present case the assessee had given the explanation to the AO during the assessment proceedings and had submitted that the amount deposited in the bank, were her money saved by her in last many year's and were kept by her , for herself and for the family in case of emergency need. However, this explanation was rejected by the AO on the pretext the assessee was not having income from any business. However assessing officer has not brought on record any document, evidence etc to show that the assessee was having any income from any other source ....
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....f the Bill and on the recommendation of the Select Committee, the said word was substituted by the word 'may'. This clearly indicates that the intention of the Parliament in enacting section 69 was to confer a discretion on the ITO in the matter of treating the source of investment which has not been satisfactorily explained by the assessee as the income of the assessee and the ITO is not obliged to treat such source of investment as income in every case where the explanation offered by the assessee is found to be not satisfactory. The question whether the source of the investment should be treated as income or not under section 69 has to be considered in the light of the facts of each case. In other words, a discretion has been conferred on the ITO under section 69 to treat the source of investment as the income of the assessee if the explanation offered by the assessee is not found satisfactory and the said discretion has to be exercised keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the particular case. 4. In the instant case, the Tribunal has held that the discretion had not been properly exercised by the ITO and the AAC in taking into account the circ....
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....¤®à¥à¤®à¤¾à¤¨ नही होता है वहाठकिये गये समसà¥à¤¤ अचà¥à¤›à¥‡ करà¥à¤® निषà¥à¤«à¤² हो जाते हैं। Where women are worshiped, there lives the Gods. Wherever they are not worshiped, all actions result in failure. शोचनà¥à¤¤à¤¿ जामयो यतà¥à¤° विनशà¥à¤¯à¤¤à¥à¤¯à¤¾à¤¶à¥ ततà¥à¤•à¥à¤²à¤®à¥ । न शोचनà¥à¤¤à¤¿ तॠयतà¥à¤°à¥ˆà¤¤à¤¾ वरà¥à¤§à¤¤à¥‡ तदà¥à¤§à¤¿ सरà¥à¤µà¤¦à¤¾ ।। मनà¥à¤¸à¥à¤®à¥ƒà¤¤à¤¿ ३/५ॠ।। Anvaya: यतà¥à¤° जामयः शोचनà¥à¤¤à¤¿ ततॠकà¥à¤²à¤®à¥ आश....