TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (9) TMI 1424
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....ting the addition of Rs. 12,50,000/- on account of addition of unsecured loan u/s 68 of the IT Act, 1961. (iii) On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law and facts in deleting the addition of Rs.4,95,17,100/- on account of undisclosed investment in shares. (iv) On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in quashing the assessment order passed by AO u/s 153A/143(3) by holding that the AO had wrongly assumed jurisdiction u/s 153A of the I.T. Act, 1961 and made addition to the returned income when no incrementing material was found during the course of search and seizure action." 3. The pertinent facts relevant to the adjudication of the appeal before us are as unde....
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....hich are as under: "1. The decision of the CIT(A) that no addition can be made without reference to any seized material in the concluded proceedings, when the proceedings were concluded in not acceptable. It is settled position of law that when the language of the Act is clear and unambiguous then literal interpretation has to be followed. The language of section 153A(1)(b) of the Act is very clear, wherein it has been laid down that the Assessing Officer shall assess or reassess the total income of the assessee. This should be read with the legislative history of the provisions related to search assessments particularly the provisions prevailing before the new scheme of the search assessments which was introduced by the Finance Act, 2003....
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.... conducted. This is irrespective of the fact that whether the Department has seized any incriminating documents or not. As regards the decision that in absence of any incriminating documents seized, no addition can be made, it is submitted that the decision of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Kabul Chawla referred to supra has not been accepted by the Department. The Department has taken consistent view that the provisions of section 153A do not restrict the Assessing Officer to make addition only on the basis of incriminating documents. The provisions envisage assessing the "total income" and not undisclosed income" In respect of the plea that the addition was not made on the basis of documents seized during the course of search, ....
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....ra [2014] 52 taxmann.com 172 (Allahabad)/[2014] 367 ITR 517 (Allahabad) where Hon'ble Allahabad High Court held that Assessing Officer has power to reassess returns of assessee not only for undisclosed income found during search operation but also with regard to material available at time of original assessment 3. CIT Vs Kesarwani Zarda Bhandar Sahson Alld. [ITA No. 270 of 2014] (Allahabad) where Hon'ble Allahabad High Court held that Assessing Officer has power to reassess returns of assessee not only for undisclosed income found during search operation but also with regard to material available at time of original assessment. 4. DR. A. V. Sreekumar Vs CIT Kerala High Court 90 taxmann.com 355 (Kerala) Where pursuant to search and....
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....o assess total income for the year and hot restricted to seized material. Post search reassessment in respect of all 6 years can be made even if original returns are already processed u/s 143(1)(a) - Assessing Officer has power u/s 153A to make assessment for all six years and compute total income of assessee, including undisclosed income, notwithstanding that returns for these years have already been processed u/s 143(1)(a). Even if assessment order had already been passed in respect of all or any of those six assessment years, either under section 143(l)(a) or section 143(3) prior to initiation of search/requisition, still Assessing Officer is empowered to reopen those proceedings under section 153A without any fetters and reassess tota....
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....or not already disclosed or made known in the course of original assessment" 9. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in its recent decision in the case of Pr. CIT vs. Meeta Gutgutia (2017) 395 ITR 526 in paras 69 to 72 has held as under: "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 justification at all for the AO to proceed on surmises and estimates without there being any incriminating material qua the AY for which he sought to make additions of franchisee commission. ....