TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (5) TMI 290
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e stands added to the appellant on the count of the income arising from sources other than agriculture income. However, at the very outset none of the authorities below i.e. Assessing Officer or the Commissioner, Income Tax Appeal have arrived at any conclusion so as to establish the finding. 2. That one of the associate Mr. Ram Kishore Suthar visited the office where on account of some misunderstanding client has been communicated to receive the certified copy of the order dated 15.11.2023. While the certified copy of the order was tried to be received on different occasions however, it came to be informed that the requirement of certified copy need not be obtained on the count that the order under the Appeal stands received under the digital signature of the Commissioner of Income Tax Appeal. 3. That despite the best efforts, the appellant was not able to receive the certified copy of the order, it is on this consequence, the Appeal stands delayed. After clarification of the misunderstanding on 02.03.2024 the appellant preferred the appeal without any further delay. Furthermore, mere procedure technicalities would further delay and defeat the cause of justice forwarded by the....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....nd that the Assessee has rightly treated the income to accrue agricultural income and therefore, the learned Appellate Authority Below have failed to consider the classification made by the Authority. 2. That the learned CIT (A) have failed to consider the correct prospective in the matter as the bonafides attached to the Assessee cannot be disputed on the count of the fraud committed with the Assessee and therefore, the finding were arrived by the authority have been arrived at in a mechanical manner and without proper application of mind. 3. That the authority below have failed to consider the explanation accorded by the assessee in as much as the revenue record stands produced before the authorities below and as such, it has not been found that the revenue record produced is transpiring the transaction to be forged in any manner. 4. That the prevalent practice of maintaining the stock and keeping the stock in reserve could not have been questioned by the authorities below, there cannot be a boundation as to the selling of stocks to transpire in a same year and hence, the authorities below have failed to consider the fact of maintenance of stocks and have thus, arrived at a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e deleted. 12. That the judgment relived by the CIT(A), nowhere relates to the principle applicable in the present case and therefore, the legal principles relied upon by the authorities below could not be read against the Assessee and hence, on the count of non-applicability of proper law, the impugned order as well as the addition of income deserves to be quashed and set aside. 13. That the bank account of the Assessee stands produced before the authorities below and even, on that count nothing transpire before the authorities so as to add any other source of income. Therefore, the finding arrived is completely beyond the material available on record and hence, the appeal deserves to be accepted. 14. That the learned assessing officer eared in passing the order under order 143(3) and made addition under section 69(a) without adopting the true interpretation of the provision. Hence, the assessment order deserves to be quashed and set aside. 15. That the receipts submitted below to the Assessing Officer were bonafidely trusted by the Assessee on the count of illiteracy and to no extent, any transaction that remain suspicious and an act to deceive the authorities stands take....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ssee was confronted that as per Khasara / Girdavari record the assessee has not produced the sarso but the bill suggest of sale of sarso. Here also the assessee replied that the same is known to Mr. Pappu. The assessee was also confronted on the issue of sale bill upon which the agricultural mandli raised doubts that the firm issued bill has not collected the cess. Here also the assessee said that the Mr. Pappu is aware about the sale bill as he went to sell the product and has collected the records. At last the assessee stated that she has Blood Sugar and pressure and high tension illness. The ld. AO then went to record the statement of the Mr. Pappu. In that statement he confirmed to have employed and working on behalf of the assessee. He also stated that the agricultural produce were taken away by the person from the firm and therefore, he is not much aware about that aspect of the matter. Even he has confirmed that the weight is also conducted in his presence in the firm and it is not that same person come to collect the goods, but different person come to collect the different goods. He stated that I inform the assessee over phone about the sale of agricultural produce. The ld....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ut to pass the assessment order u/s 143(3) of the Act with the aforementioned additions to the total income of the appellant. Against the said order, the appeal was filed on 8/1 / 2020 Since then, no further details have been provided. In Form-35 under Pt. 11, Statement of facts is reproduced here as under: "AS PER ASSESSMENT ORDER" Except for the statement made above in the appeal memo, the appellant had not provided any details regarding the nature and sources of cash deposits in her bank account along with the documentary evidences to explain to the satisfaction of AO or this office to claim the relief as sought in the grounds of the appeal. With regard to ground no. 3 wherein the application of section 115BBE was questioned, the issue is dealt with based on the legality involved in all such cases. It is noted that there are two limbs to this issue. One is the application of Section 115BBE per se and the second is the application of the rate of 60% on section 68/69/69A/69B or 69C cases for FY 2016-17 while the rate enhancement was introduced through Taxation laws (Second Amendment Act), 2016 which received the President's accent on 15 December 2016 but was applicable....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....017-18 relevant to financial year 2016-17 rate of tax will be at sixty percent. In our view and as held by Hon'ble Kerala High Court, there was no new liability created and the rate of tax merely stood enhanced which is applicable to the assessment year 2017-18. The enhanced rate applies from the commencement of the assessment year 2017-18, which relates to previous financial year 2016- 17 as the case in the present assessee and not on the date of commencement of the amendment. The reasoning for the same is wat the date of amendment on which an amendment comes into force is the date of the commencement of the amendment. It is read as amended from that date. Under the ordinary circumstances, and Act does not have retrospective operation on substantial rights which have become fixed before the date of the commencement of the Act. But, this rule is not unalterable. The legislature may affect substantial rights by enacting laws which are expressly retrospective or by using language which has that necessary result. And this language may give an enactment more retrospectivity than what the commencement clause gives to any of its provisions. When this happens the provisions thus made ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....explanation about the nature and source of acquisition of the money, bullion, jewellery or valuable article or the explanation offered by him is not, in the opinion of the Assessing Officer, satisfactory, the money and value of the bullion, jewellery or valuable article may be deemed to be the income of the assessee for such financial year." Section 69A therefore requires fulfilment of twin conditions: - (i) During the financial year, the investments/ money/bullion/article/valuable thing is not recorded in books of accounts, if any, maintained by him for any source of income, AND, (ii) Assessee fails to offer satisfactory explanation about the nature and source thereof. The expression "not recorded in the books of accounts, if any, maintained by him for any source of income" in section 69A clearly indicates that by the use of words 'if any 'in above expression, the section is also applicable in cases where the assessee has nothing at all for a source of income. The section envisages that if the books of accounts are not maintained, then the onus will be on assessee to prove the genuineness of the investments by some other evidence to show that such investment was ou....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... 9 (Allahabad)/[2018] 253 Taxman 152 (Allahabad)/[2017] 399 ITR 600 (Allahabad) where Hon'ble Allahabad High Court held that where assessee had purchased drafts by depositing cash but failed to provide source of said cash utilised to make such investment, additions made under section 69 was justified Amita Kochar Vs ACIT [2017] 79 taxmann.com 432 (Patna)/[2016] 389 ITR 345 (Patna) where Hon'ble Allahabad High Court upheld addition where assessee, in block return, did not disclose total gold found during sealh nor did it give any reasonable explanation therefor and even figures given in belated explanation did not match with gold jewellery actually found in assessee's possession Vijay Kumar Saraf Vs ITAT [1996] 85 Taxman 465 (Madhya Pradesh)/[1997] 226 ITR 860 (Madhya Pradesh) Certain jewellery and ornaments seized during raid on business premises of assessee were claimed to be assets of ancestral business of assessee's father. Assessee's aforesaid plea having not been pressed before tax authorities nor substantiated by any material evidence. Hon'ble MP High Court held that Tribunal had rightly upheld assessment by treating value of seized assets as a....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....dia and is use for Agriculture purposes, by agriculture itself, performance by a cultivator or receiver of rent-in-kind of any process employed by the cultivator or receiver to render the produced rate or receive to be taken to market and further includes the sale by cultivator or received for rent-in-kind or produced raised or received in respect of which no process has been performed other than the process of nature describe in Paragraph-II of Sub Clause (b) of the definition. Lastly an income derived from a building owned and occupied by the receiver of the rent or revenue officers rent or occupied by the cultivator or receiver by the rent-in-kind with respect to the rent or proceeded wherein, process is mentioned in paragraph II & III as prescribed. 3. It is further relevant to consider the provisions of Chapter-IV that includes the heads of income u/s 14 for the purposes of charge of Income Tax and the computation of total income to be inclusive and limited to :- (A) Salaries, (B) Income from house property (C) profit and gains of business or profession (D) Capital Gain and (E) Income from other sources. That it is to this effect that it is required to ascertain that the inc....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e transactions was questionable to the extent of Assessee could not have infact being arrived and therefore, the finding that the transactions with the firm that was none-existing could not have related to the assessee and the finding that the Assessee to any extent played a role to evade or meaningfully furnish a written so as to commit a fraud towards remedy stands completely misplaced and hence, by no means, the transactions could stands question at the stands of the Assessee and hence, the addition of the amount so arrived is completely misplaced. It is also relevant to note here that throughout the lifetime of the Assessee no other sources of income that arising from the land stands praised and infact it also remain out of question to dispute the nature of the land etc. where the land revenue record produced clearly marks the land to be attributable to revenue collection then, by no means, the documents of the revenue department would stands disputed therefore, in totality the Assessee has discharge its burden which has been failed to be consider by the Assessing Officer as well as the respective Commission. (C) MISCELLANEOUS SUBMISSIONS 1. That the receipts submitted bel....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rought on record by the assessing officer and thus, it cannot be disputed that the Assessee was engaged in any other profession or business. Hence, the explanation accorded by the Assessee could not have been denied on the count of demonetization. 8. That the Assessing Officer have itself proceeded on presumption of sources other than agriculture income to which effect no finding stands attached even by the CIT(A) and therefore, the standards of two as required could not have been solely based on the presumption of receipt produced by the Assessee. 9. That no amount of presumption as against the bonafide of assessee can be brought under question as the assesses has itself participated in fair and genuine manner and therefore, the presumption as drawn upon by the Income Tax Authorities remains unsustainable. 10. That the Income Tax Authority Below have failed to consider the statement made by the Assessee and its witness and have merely relied on a selective portion as against the reading the statement as a whole which itself shows the mechanize approach undertaken by the Authorities and hence, the impugned orders as well as the addition of income deserves to be set aside. 1....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....nch of Dehradun in ITA No. 36/DDN/2022 and decision of Co-ordinate Bench of Indore in ITA No. 9/IND/2022 dated 23.06.2023 and other more decision wherein it has been held that when the assessee do not have any other source of income and the assessee substantiated the agricultural income by way of the evidence the source of income in any manner whatsoever given only emanate from agricultural income only. 8. Per contra, the ld. DR decided who has filed lower authorities. The ld. AR vehemently argued that the ld. AO has in as much as 32 pages past a detailed order recording statement of the assessee his son Mr. Pappu and the representative of the agricultural mundly so as to establish that the bills in support of the cash receipt alleged to have been claimed as agricultural income is not correct based that argument that ld. DR relied upon the details finding recorded in the orders of lower authorities. 9. We have heard the parties, considered the rival contentions and also perused the decision cited to drive home to the contentions raised. In this case, the bench noted that the assessee has deposited cash in his bank account maintained with Oriental Bank of Commerce, KCC account a s....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... income and that is agricultural income. Even on the same set of evidence the ld. AO has partly considered as income of the assessee. While making the addition the ld. AO recorded statement of Mr. Pappu, who handles the affairs of his agricultural land on sharing basis. The ld. AO also placed on record that Mr. Pappu was handling the activities related to the agricultural work and the issue of the bill being genuine or manipulated invoices is the responsibility of Mr. Pappu and not of the assessee as it is an evident from the record and various statements recorded by the AO. During the course of assessment proceedings, it is very much clear that the assessee has his son and his relative (Buwa) holding 50 bighas of agricultural land and the assessee is having facility for storage of agricultural produce. Even the Krushi Upaj Mandli based on the set of facts placed on record has not lodged any compliant for enquiry. Considering all these set of facts merely invoices which are not of registered firm or a person and having not paid agricultural cess, the same cannot be considered as non genuine. In support of the contention our attention was invited to the various judgement of Co-ordin....