2024 (2) TMI 985
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....ildwell Pvt. Ltd.' in Civil Appeal No.6580/2022 delivered on 24.04.2023 have not been considered properly by the Ld. CIT(A) and, as such, since no incriminating evidence was found during the course of search of the assessee and hence the addition of Rs. 99,16,874/-was not called for. 3. That the Ld. CIT(A) has confirmed the order of Assessing Officer by relying upon the statement of one Sh. Sunil Kumar Kayan and Sh. S.K. Khemka, which was recorded by the Investigation Wing, Kolkata on 13.03.2015 and not during the course of search of the assessee and, thus, the same could not be said to be the 'incriminating evidence' as found during search. 4. That the finding of the Ld. CIT(A) about the meaning of 'incriminating material' by relying upon certain article is without any basis and substance and it has been held in various judgments of Hon'ble High Courts/ Tribunals that the mere statement cannot be held to be incriminating material found during search and further, the assessee concerned had never conceded during the course of search, that such claim of long term capital gain was bogus. 5. That the reliance by the Ld. CIT(A) on the s....
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....as issued within the statutory time period. 3.1 Subsequently, search and seizure operation under section 132(1) were carried out at the residential and business premises of M/s Jain Amar Clothing Pvt. Ltd. Group of cases on 26/02/2016 and the assessee premises were also searched on the said date. Thereafter, the case of the assessee was centralized and notice under section 153(A) dt. 28/09/2016 was issued to the assessee. In response to the notice, the assessee filed his return of income on 31/12/2016 declaring total income of Rs. 40,93,500/- as originally declared under section 139(1) of the Act. 3.2 During the course of assessment proceedings, the AO stated that the assessee has claimed exemption of LTCG of Rs. 99,16,874/- during the A.Y. 2013- 14 in respect of sale of shares of M/s Access Global Limited and in order to verify the genuineness of the assessee's claim of exemption, he has examined the seized records, appraisal report of the documents as furnished by the DDIT, conducted independent field enquiries and investigation during the assessment proceedings which led to the fact that the claim of LTCG on equity shares has been found to be bogus and the gist of the inqu....
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....y stocks and identity and credentials of both are suspicious in nature and why the LTCG claimed of Rs. 99,16,874/- should not be treated as bogus and added under Section 68 of the Act. 3.7 In response to show cause notice, the assessee submitted as under: * That he has purchased 850 equity shares of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. in F.Y. 2010-11 through share broker S.K. Khemka. * That M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. was later on amalgamated with M/s Access Global Ltd. in November 2011 and as per the amalgamation scheme approved by the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court, against 1 share of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd., 47 equity shares of M/s Access Global Ltd. were allotted. * That the shares of M/s Access Global ltd. were received in D-MAT account of the assessee. * That the shares of M/s Access Global Ltd. were sold during the F.Y. 2012-13 through broker Shri Sunil Kumar Kayan. * That the statement of Shri Suresh Kumar Khemka, Shri Sunil Kumar Kayan, Shri Ashish Kumar Aggarwal, Shri Naval Jalan, Shri Ashok Kumar Kayan, Shri Harshvardhan Kayan relates to F.Y. 2014-15 whereas assessee has earned capital gain in F.Y. 2012-13. * That there is no incr....
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....Access Global Ltd. amounting to Rs. 99,16,874/- was treated as bogus and added to the total income of the assessee treating the same as unexplained cash credit under Section 68 of the Act. 4. Being aggrieved, the assessee carried the matter in appeal before the Ld. CIT(A). 4.1 During the course of appellate proceedings, it was submitted that the assessee has made investment in shares of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. in A.Y. 2011-12 and the shares were purchased through Shri S.K. Khemka and the copy of the account with Shri S.K. Khemka was placed on record. It was submitted that payment against the purchase of shares was made to Shri S.K Khemka through saving bank account maintained with HDFC Bank and copy of the bank statement was also placed on record. 4.2 It was further submitted that after gap of a year, there was amalgamation of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. with M/s Access Global Limited which was approved by the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court and in terms of the record date of 30/11/2011, the share holder of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. were given 47 shares of M/s Access Global Limited against 1 share of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. and copy of the order of the Hon'ble Court approving th....
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....ransactions which were duly recorded in the records / books of the assessee. All these transactions are routed through banking channels. All these transactions are reflected in the computation chart and the return of income which has been duly filed in accordance with law. It was submitted that the said broker was an authorized broker of Calcutta Stock Exchange and duly registered with SEBI and all these facts are on record. The AO has not denied these facts. It was submitted that all the transactions have been transacted through Calcutta Stock Exchange for the sale of shares. Hence the contention of the AO is purely an allegation on assumption basis which is not permitted in the eyes of law. It was further submitted that the copies of share certificates which have been seized from the locker are issued by M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. against the purchases made through banking channels and through the broker. Even on the backside of these certificates, it can be seen that these shares have been transferred in the name of the assessee and relates to the assessee. It was submitted that the AO has not uttered a single word regarding purchases of shares of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. which we....
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....ine. b) There was complete amalgamation of the Maple Goods Pvt. Ltd. made through Calcutta High Court and the AO has not uttered a single word on this issue. c) The shares of Access Global Limited were allotted to the assessee as per the Calcutta High Court orders. The shares were received by the assessee in Demat Account. This fact has been admitted by the AO. d) The shares were sold through the broker by the assessee through Calcutta Stock Exchange. This fact has been admitted by the AO. e) The payments against the sale of shares were received from the broker and this fact has not been contradicted by the AO. f) The complete details of saving bank account number xxxxxxx along bank statement with HDFC Bank for purchase of shares has been verified by the AO. Similarly, the complete details of payments received in this saving account against the sale of shares have not been doubted and were also verified during the proceedings. g) There is no contradiction made by the AO on the all the above issues in point no (a) to (f) in the assessment order, hence additions have been made u/s 68 arbitrarily. These are actual long term capital....
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.... stated by the AO that the above documents reflect that the assessee was in possession of the shares which has later on been utilized for bogus LTCG claim on sale of share under section 10(38) of the Act. It was stated that the share of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. were purchased through broker Shri S.K. Khemka is clear from the seized record. It was stated that given the nature of the whole scheme being managed, these documents are of incriminating nature as these were issued by broker to make the scheme appearing to be falling within the four corners of law and these documents are incriminating in nature as they have direct bearing on the assessment of correct income of the assessee. Moreover as per the case of Sumati Dayal Vs. CIT 214 ITR 801(SC) even the circumstantial evidence based on pre-ponderance of probability constitute incriminating material enough to make an assessment of income. 5.2 It was further stated by the AO in his remand report that the statement of Shri Suresh Khemka through which the assessee purchased the shares was recorded on oath on 13/03/2015 by the Investigation wing, Kolkata and in his statement, he has admitted that he has issued kachha panna (purchase....
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.... shares have duly been recorded. It was accordingly submitted that the assumption that there is an incriminating material deducted as a result of search on the applicant is entirely misconceived, misplaced and wholly untenable. 6.2 It was submitted that the assessment for A.Y 2011-12 stood completed wherein no adverse inference has been drawn in this respect and therefore no material much less any incriminating material has been found to allege that any consideration has been passed on or received outside books of accounts. It was accordingly submitted that being a case of unabated assessment in absence of any incriminating material found as a result of search in the case of the assessee the whole of the proceedings under section 153A r.w.s 143(3) is bad in law. 6.3 It was submitted that it is a trite law that incriminating material must be detected as a result of search on the applicant and such incriminating material should be qua the addition proposed to be made against the applicant and in the present case there is no such incriminating material unearthed during the search and therefore the contention of the AO that the share certificate are of the incriminating material ....
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....nted facts, hence they fall in the definition of incriminating material. Thereafter referring to the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of PCIT Vs. Abhisar Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. in Civil Appeal No. 6580 of 2021 dt. 24/04/2023, it was stated by the Ld. CIT(A) that in case any incriminating material is found during the course of search, the AO can assess the total income of the assessee on the basis of incriminating material as well as any other material in knowledge or possession of the AO including the total income declared in the returns. Hence the contention of the assessee that no incriminating material was found on the basis of which the said assessment has been framed was held without basis and rejected. Further, on merits as well, various contentions raised by the assessee were rejected and the findings and order of the AO was confirmed. 8. Against the said findings and the directions of the Ld. CIT(A), the assessee is in appeal before us. 9. During the course of hearing, the Ld. AR referred to the grounds of appeal taken by the assessee namely Ground No. 2, 3 and 4 and it was stated that the Ld. CIT(A) has failed to appreciate that it is a case of unabated ass....
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....ceedings of the assessee as these were recorded during their respective investigation proceedings way back in the year 2015 and the statements were any way recorded at the back of the assessee and no opportunity to cross examine was ever given to the assessee. 9.4 It was further submitted that the statement recorded during the course of search has no evidentiary value and cannot be said to be incriminating evidence by itself as found during the course of search as held in various decisions and in this regard, reliance was placed on the decisions of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in case of Pr. CIT Vs. Best Infrastructure India Pvt. Ltd. 397 ITR 82 (Del), CIT Vs. Harjeev Aggarwal 290 CTR 263 (Del), Jaipur Benches of the Tribunal in case of DCIT Vs. A M Exports 69 ITR (Trib)16 (Jaipur Trib), and Delhi Benches in case of Brahmaputra Finlease P. Ltd. Vs. DCIT 51 CCH 796(Del Trib) and Rathi Steel Ltd. Vs. ACIT 56 CCH 102 (Del Trib). 9.5 Regarding the findings of the Ld. CIT(A), it was submitted that the purchased documents of the share cannot be considered as incriminating documents, rather these documents would support the stand of the assessee that the share purchase are genuine and a....
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.... of search. It was accordingly submitted that given the identical facts of the case, the findings contained therein shall apply with equal force in the instant case and the said decision may therefore be followed. 10. In his submissions, the ld CIT/DR submitted that it is a clear case where incriminating material has been found during the course of search in terms of share certificates and the contract notes. It was submitted that both the AO as well as the Ld. CIT(A) have recorded a categorical finding that the incriminating material has been found and seized during the course of search. In this regard our reference was drawn to the show cause issued by the AO wherein he has specifically referred to pages no. 35 to 51 and 177,178 &179 of Annexure-A sized from Locker No. 194, HDFC Bank, Ludhiana. It was submitted that the contents of the documents so found and seized from the Locker clearly shows that the assessee has purchased the shares of M/s Maple Goods (P) Ltd. through the broker Shri S.K. Khemka. It was further submitted that Shri Suresh Kumar Khemka in his statement recorded on oath by the investigation wing, Kolkata has admitted that he has issued Katccha Panna (Purchase....
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....t of facts and circumstances, in case of Shri Ashish Jain, Shri Akhil Jain and Shri Bipin Jain (supra) wherein similar additions were made by the AO by denial of claim of LTCG basis identical nature of material found from the bank locker of the father of the assessee and upheld by the ld CIT(A), the addition were deleted by the Coordinate Bench in absence of any incriminating material found during the course of search. 11. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material available on the record. Admittedly and undisputedly, the facts and circumstances of the case are identical and the matter is thus squarely covered by the decision of Coordinate Bench in case of Shri Ashish Jain & Others Vs. DCIT (Supra) wherein it was held as under: "12. We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material available on the record. In case of Pr. CIT Vs. Abhisar Buildwell (P) Ltd. (supra), the question for consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court was whether in respect of completed / unabated assessment, any addition can be made by the AO in absence of any incriminating material found during the course of search under section 132 or requisition under section 13....
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....Summary of the legal position 38. On a conspectus of section 153A(1) of the Act, read with the provisos thereto, and in the light of the law explained in the aforementioned decisions, the legal position that emerges is as under: i. Once a search takes place under section 132 of the Act, notice under section 153A(1) will have to be mandatorily issued to the person searched requiring him to file returns for six AYs immediately preceding the previous year relevant to the AY in which the search takes place. ii. Assessments and reassessments pending on the date of the search shall abate. The total income for such AYs will have to be computed by the AOs as a fresh exercise. iii. The AO will exercise normal assessment powers in respect of the six years previous to the relevant AY in which the search takes place. The AO has the power to assess and reassess the 'total income' of the aforementioned six years in separate assessment orders for each of the six years. In other words, there will be only one assessment order in respect of each of the six AYs "in which both the disclosed and the undisclosed income would be brought to tax". iv. Al....
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.... of the Act to the person requiring him to furnish the return of income in respect of each assessment year falling within six assessment years immediately preceding the' assessment year relevant to the previous year in which such search is conducted or requisition is made and assess or reassess the same. Since the assessment under section 153A of the Act is linked with search and requisition under sections 132 and 132A of the Act, it is evident that the object of the section is to bring to tax the undisclosed income which is found during the course of or pursuant to the search or requisition. However, instead of the earlier regime of block assessment whereby; it was only the undisclosed income of the block period that was assessed, section 153A of the Act seeks to assess the total income for the assessment year, which is clear from the first proviso thereto which provides that the Assessing Officer shall assess or reassess the total income in respect of each assessment year, falling within such six assessment years. The second proviso makes the intention of the Legislature clear as the same provides that assessment or reassessment, if any, relating to the six assessment years r....
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.... can be made only on the basis of material collected during the search or requisition. In case no incriminating material is found, as held by the Rajasthan High Court in the case of Jai Steel (India) v. Asst. CIT (supra), the earlier assessment would have to be reiterated. In case where pending assessments have abated, the Assessing Officer can pass assessment orders for each of the six years determining the total income of the assessee which would include income declared in the returns, if any, furnished by the assessee as well as undisclosed income, if any, unearthed during the search or requisition. In case where a pending reassessment under section 147 of the Act has abated, needless to state that the scope and ambit of the assessment would include any order which the Assessing Officer could have passed under section 147 of the Act as well as under section 153A of the Act." 8. For the reasons stated hereinbelow, we are in complete agreement with the view taken by the Delhi High Court in the case of Kabul Chawla (supra) and the Gujarat High Court in the case of Saumya Construction (supra), taking the view that no addition can be made in respect of completed assessment i....
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....respect of each assessment year falling within six assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which such search is conducted or requisition is made and assess or reassess the same. Section 153A of the Act reads as under: "153A. Assessment in case of search or requisition - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 139, Section 147, Section 148, Section 149, Section 151 and Section 153, in the case of a person where a search is initiated under section 132 or books of account, other documents or any assets are requisitioned under section 132-A after the 31st day of May, 2003, the Assessing Officer shall- (a) issue notice to such person requiring him to furnish within such period, as may be specified in the notice, the return of income in respect of each assessment year falling within six assessment years referred to in clause (b), in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly as if such return were a return required to be furnished under section 139; b)....
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....itiated or any order of assessment or reassessment made under sub-section (1) has been annulled in appeal or any other legal proceeding, then, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or section 153, the assessment or reassessment relating to any assessment year which has abated under the second proviso to sub-section (1), shall stand revived with effect from the date of receipt of the order of such annulment by the Commissioner. Therefore, the intention of the legislation seems to be that in case of search only the pending assessment/reassessment proceedings shall abate and the AO would assume the jurisdiction to assess or reassess the 'total income' for the entire six years period/block assessment period. The intention does not seem to be to re27 open the completed/unabated assessments, unless any incriminating material is found with respect to concerned assessment year falling within last six years preceding the search. Therefore, on true interpretation of Section 153A of the Act, 1961, in case of a search under section 132 or requisition under section 132A and during the search any incriminating material is found, even in case of unabated/completed assessme....
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.... of Section 153A would be redundant and/or rewriting the said provisions, which is not permissible under the law. 13. For the reasons stated hereinabove, we are in complete agreement with the view taken by the Delhi High Court in the case of Kabul Chawla (supra) and the Gujarat High Court in the case of Saumya Construction (supra) and the decisions of the other High Courts taking the view that no addition can be made in respect of the completed assessments in absence of any incriminating material. 14. In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, it is concluded as under: (i) that in case of search under section 132 or requisition under section 132A, the AO assumes the jurisdiction for block assessment under section 153A; (ii)all pending assessments/reassessments shall stand abated; (iii) in case any incriminating material is found/unearthed, even, in case of unabated/completed assessments, the AO would assume the jurisdiction to assess or reassess the 'total income' taking into consideration the incriminating material unearthed during the search and the other material available with the AO including the income declared ....
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....ing the assessment under section 153A only on the basis of some incriminating material unearthed during the course of search or requisition of documents or undisclosed income or property discovered in the course of search which were not produced or not already disclosed or made known in the course of original assessment. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the said decision referred to the decision of Hon'ble Bombay High Court in case of CIT Vs. Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Sheva) Ltd. [2015] 374 ITR 645 wherein the question for consideration was whether the scope of assessment under section 153A encompasses addition not based on any incriminating material found during the course of search. It was held by the Bombay High Court that no addition can be made in respect of the assessment that has become final in the absence of incriminating material found during the course of search. The Bombay High Court referred to its earlier decision in case of CIT Vs. Murli Agro Products Ltd. (ITA No. 36 of 2009 dated 29/10/2010) and expressed its agreement with the earlier decision holding that the crucial words "search" and "requisition" appear in substantive provisions of section 153A....
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...., therefore, hold that the Special Bench's understanding of the legal provision is not perverse nor does it suffer from any error of law apparent on the face of the record. The Special Bench in that regard held as under : "48. The provision under section 153A is applicable where a search or requisition is initiated after 31.5.2003. In such a case the AO is obliged to issue notice u/s 153A in respect of 6 preceding years, preceding the year in which search etc. has been initiated. Thereafter he has to assess or reassess the total income of these six years. It is obligatory on the part of the AO to assess or reassess total income of the six years as provided in section 153A(1)(b) and reiterated in the 1st proviso to this section. The second proviso states that the assessment or reassessment pending on the date of initiation of the search or requisition shall abate. We find that there is no divergence of views in so far as the provision contained in section 153A till the 1st proviso. The divergence starts from the second proviso which states that pending assessment or reassessment on the date of initiation of search shall abate. This means that an assessment or reassessme....
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.... provision further shows that completed assessments stand on a different footing from the pending assessments because appeals etc. proceedings continue to remain in force in case of completed assessments and their fate depends upon subsequent orders in appeal. On consideration of the provision and the submissions, we find that this provision also makes it clear that the abatement of pending proceedings is not of such permanent nature that they cease to exist for all times to come. The interpretation of the Ld. Counsel, though not specifically stated, would be that on annulment of the assessment made u/s 153(1), the AO gets the jurisdiction to assess the total income which was vested in him earlier independent of the search and which came to an end due to initiation of the search. 50. The provision contained in section 132 (1) empowers the officer to issue a warrant of search of the premises of a person where any one or more of conditions mentioned therein is or are satisfied, i.e. - (a) summons or notice has been issued to produce books of account or other documents but such books of account or documents have not been produced, (b) summons or notice has been or might be is....
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....gs and proceedings under this provision merge into one. If assessment made under sub-section (1) is annulled in appeal or other legal proceedings, then the abated assessment or reassessment shall revive. This means that the assessment or reassessment, which had abated, shall be made, for which extension of time has been provided under section 153B. 53. The question now is - what is the scope of assessment or reassessment of total income u/s 153A (1) (b) and the first proviso ? We are of the view that for answering this question, guidance will have to be sought from section 132(1). If any books of account or other documents relevant to the assessment had not been produced in the course of original assessment and found in the course of search in our humble opinion such books of account or other documents have to be taken into account while making assessment or reassessment of total income under the aforesaid provision. Similar position will obtain in a case where undisclosed income or undisclosed property has been found as a consequence of search. In other words, harmonious interpretation will produce the following results:- (a) In so far as pending assessments are ....
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....se of proceedings under section 132 is incriminating or otherwise has to be tested based only on the satisfaction note recorded by the AO. It was held that the contents of the said satisfaction note are the only statement/material to be looked at and the Revenue cannot seek the augment, supplement or add to the material recorded to support the claim that the incriminating material has been found and the Revenue cannot refer to any other document or material to establish such a claim and the relevant findings are contained at para 15 (d) page 40 of the judgment which we deem it appropriate to reproduce as under: "(d) The question of whether any material found during the course of proceedings under Section 132 of the Act in the case of Hubtown Limited is incriminating or otherwise has to be tested based only on the satisfaction note recorded by the Assessing Officer/s. The contents of the said satisfaction note are the only item/material to be looked at in this regard and respondent cannot seek to augment, supplement or add to materials recorded to support the claim that incriminating material has been found. Further respondent cannot refer to any other documents or material....
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....on etc. which represents wholly or partly the income or property which has not been and which would not be disclosed for the purpose of assessment, called as undisclosed income or property. Therefore the information in possession of the competent authority at the time of authorization of search becomes relevant and basis the same, his satisfaction that search action is warranted coupled with material actually found and seized during the course of search which has not been disclosed or produced or submitted in the course of original assessment. More specifically, it refers to the books of account or other documents not produced in the course of original assessment but found in the course of search. It also refers to any money or bullion etc. which represents wholly or partly the income or property which has not been disclosed for the purpose of assessment and discovered in the course of search. It can thus be stated that in case of unabated assessment, the reassessment can be made on the basis of the satisfaction note pursuant to which the search has been initiated and books of account or other documents not produced in the course of original assessment but found in the course of se....
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....admittedly doesn't belong to the assessee but is in the name of and belongs jointly to Shri Sunil Kumar Jain, the father of the assessee and Smt. Kamla Jain, the grandmother of the assessee. Therefore, the documents so found and seized are from a bank locker, which is neither in the name of the assessee nor it's the case of the Revenue that the locker is operated by the assessee. The assessee has not been found in possession of the keys of the locker and thus, the assessee is not having the effective possession of the said locker and it's again not the case of the Revenue either. Thus, where the documents have been found from a locker of family members of the assessee maintained with a bank located at a premises other than residential premises and in respect of which the assessee doesn't have any access or possession thereof, it can be safely concluded that no documents or material has been found during the course of search either from the premises or the possession of the assessee and what to talk about any incriminating nature of such material found and seized. What has been found and seized is from the possession of third persons, who no doubt are part of the assessee's family a....
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....he financial year 2010-11 relevant to assessment year 2011-12 and thus, the said transaction doesn't pertain to impugned assessment year 2012-13 and cannot be held as incriminating in nature for the impugned assessment year. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of Singhad Technical Education Society (supra) considering the issue under section 153C held that the incriminating material which was seized had to pertain to assessment years in question. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of Abhisar Buildwell (P) Ltd (supra) considering the issue under section 153A reiterated the said principle wherein it was held that the intention does not seem to re-open the completed/unabated assessments, unless any incriminating material is found with respect to concerned assessment year falling within last six years preceding the search. 24. Further, it is noted that during the financial year 2010-11 relevant to assessment year 2011-12, the assessee had purchased the shares wherein the payment had been made through normal banking channel and the transaction is duly reflected and disclosed in the bank statement of the assessee. The proceedings for Assessment Year 2011-12 were also reopened u/s 1....
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....were found from the locker of the family members. Thus, the transaction of sale and purchase of shares have been duly disclosed as part of the original return of income and the assessment thereof stood completed/unabated as on the date of search. Therefore, the share certificates and contract notes represent and corroborate a disclosed transaction of purchase and sale of shares as part of the original return of income and cannot be termed as incriminating material so found and seized during the course of search in case of the assessee for the impugned assessment year. Further, there is nothing found during the course of search in case of the assessee that Shri S.K Khemka was an unauthorized broker indulging in illegal trading. Therefore, the findings of the AO that the share certificates and contract notes are incriminating in nature are not borne out of record and infact, the said documents corroborate and confirm the disclosed transaction of purchase of shares of Maple Good (P) Ltd by the assessee. Further, the fact that these documents have a direct bearing on the estimation of correct income of the assessee doesn't make them incriminating in nature as so held by the ld CIT(A). ....
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.... basis for forming the belief that share certificates and contract notes are incriminating in nature. As we have noted above, the question whether any material found during the course of proceedings under section 132 is incriminating or otherwise has to be tested based only on the satisfaction note recorded by the AO. It has been held by the Courts that the contents of the said satisfaction note are the only statement/material to be looked at and the Revenue cannot seek to augment, supplement or add to the material recorded to support the claim that the incriminating material has been found and the Revenue cannot refer to any other document or material to establish such a claim. In the instant case, there is nothing on record and/or brought to our notice during the course of hearing that the Competent authority was seized of the aforesaid statement of Shri S. K Khemka at the time of recording of the satisfaction whereby the authorization has been issued and the search warrant was issued whereby the search has been initiated in case of the assessee. Therefore, the statement of Shri S.K Khemka is availability of other material/documentation which has come in the knowledge and possess....
TaxTMI