1983 (1) TMI 32

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...., relevant to the accounting period ending on March 31, 1955, the assessee had sold gold ornaments of the value of Rs. 35,653. When called upon to explain the source and the time of acquisition of the said ornaments, the assessee claimed that these ornaments belonged to his wife and that she had received them at the time of her marriage and on some ceremonial occasions. Some ornaments were claimed to have been given to the wife by the mother of the assessee. This explanation was rejected by the ITO and he held that having regard to the status of the assessee who belonged to a rich Marwari family, the sudden sale of his wife's ornaments was not warranted, and no dire need for money to be raised by sale of ornaments was proved. The amount of ....

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....rnaments with him at that time, then he would have sold them in normal Course instead of borrowing monies. The conduct of the assessee was also taken into account. The conduct consisted of an attempt on the part of the assessee to pass off an amount of Rs. 25,000 received by him as remuneration, as gifts made by his employer to his three minor daughters, though later on the assessee agreed to be assessed on the said sum as his income. Considering all the circumstances, the Tribunal found that the authorities were justified in bringing to tax the sum of Rs. 35,653 as income from undisclosed sources. Reference Application No. 274 of 1963-64 having been rejected by the Tribunal, an application under s. 66(2) of the Indian I.T. Act, 1922, wa....

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....in Income-tax Reference No. 66 of 1957, in which a view has been taken that where an amount is represented to be the sale proceeds of gold ornaments, if the assessee fails to prove the source of the gold ornaments, then the said amount can be treated as undisclosed income. It is difficult for us to find any error in this proposition of law. If an assessee succeeds in proving that the amount which the income-tax authorities, are wanting to treat .Ls income from undisclosed sources is nothing but conversion into cash of gold which belongs to him, then such inclusion of that amount as income from undisclosed sources would be wholly impermissible. But, what the assessee is required to prove is that the gold belonged to him, because unless it is....