AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (2) TMI 349
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....r. 3. On the basis of the facts and in the circumstances of the case and as per law, the assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s. 143(3) and confirmed by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) be cancelled as subsequently the Assessing officer has accepted the returned income in an assessment order passed u/s. 147 of the Act. 4. The appellant craves for the addition to, deletion, alteration, modification of the above grounds of appeal." Brief Facts of the case : 2. In this case, the Return of Income was filed electronically by assessee on 30.11.2014 declaring total income of Rs.16,89,120/-. The case was selected for scrutiny. The ld.Authorised Representative (ld.AR) of the assessee attended before the Assessing Officer(AO). The assessee claimed deduction under section 54B of the Income Tax Act. The AO has denied the said deduction under section 54B of the Act. The relevant part of the assessment order is reproduced here as under: "During the course of assessment proceedings,, it was observed from the computation of total Income, assessee has sale of land admeasuring to 2.2 Hectare of Survey no. 60/3 of village fv1hasn.il, Nashik for a....
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....ural Marketing Committee which were on page no. 18 to 27 of the paper book. The ld.AR, therefore, said that assessee had cultivated the land and hence, the assessee is eligible for deduction under section 54B of the Act. The Ld.AR also relied on a letter issued by the purchaser of the land. Departmental Representative's Submissions : 5. The ld.Departmental Representative(ld.DR) for the Revenue heavily relied on the order of the AO and ld.CIT(A). The ld.DR submitted that the receipts of the Nashik Agricultural Marketing Committee does not establish that the goods i.e. Tomato and other vegetables were grown in the impugned land by the assessee. The ld.DR submitted that as per section 54B, the land should have been used for agricultural purposes either by the assessee or his family in preceding two years of sale. The ld.DR further submitted that in this case it can be seen from 7/12 extract which is part of the paper book that land is marked as पडत, it means it was not used for agricultural purposes in the F.Y. 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. The ld.DR also submitted that the AO has got the details from the Government of Maharashtra Website to establish that the ....
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..... Thus, land is shown as पडत for 3 years. पडत means there were no agricultural activity on the impugned land. Assessee sold the land on 26/12/2013. To be eligible for deduction under section 54B, the land should have been used for agricultural purpose in the preceding two years, means in the years 2011-12, 2012-13. As seen from the 7/12 extract, no agricultural activities were carried out on the impugned land in the preceding two years. It means the assessee had not used the impugned land for Agricultural Purposes. The assessee has not filed any evidence to prove that the land was used for Agricultural Purposes in preceding two years. Therefore, assessee has violated condition mentioned in section 54B of the Act. Therefore, assessee is not eligible for deduction under section 54B of the Act. The assessee has relied on certain receipts issued by Nashik Agricultural Marketing Committee to claim that he carried out agricultural activity. However, mere sale of Tomato, vegetables to Nashik Agricultural Marketing Committee does not establish that assessee had carried agricultural activity in the land at Survey No.60/3, Village Mashrool, district Nashik....
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....rs, and after due enquiry correct the entries which may be found to be incorrect. [He shall cause the Talathi to make resultant changes in the entries in the respective KhatePustika also]". Unquote. 8. Thus, as per The Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers (Preparation and Maintenance) Rules, 1971, the Talathi Visits the field and then makes entries of the crops grown. In the case under consideration, the talathi has entered the land as "पडत". The records maintained by talathi are authentic. The assessee has also filed copy of letter issued by the purchaser of the land, however, it is a letter issued by the person who have transactions with the assessee. The said self- professing letter does not have any evidentiary value in the presence of Land Revenue Record maintained by talathi. However, the said letter does not establish that the impugned land was used for agricultural purpose by the assessee or his family members.. 9. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Commissioner of Customs (Import), Mumbai Vs. Dilip Kumar & Company 69 GST 239 (SC) has held as under : "1. Exemption notification should be interpreted strictly; the burd....