TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (9) TMI 1842
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....llegal and on the basis of such notice, no assessment order as has been impugned in the present appeal could have been passed. 2. BECAUSE the assessment order dated 30.06.2016 is wholly vitiated in law as the same has been passed without giving appellant a due and effective opportunity of being heard and without complying with the principles of natural justice. WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE AFORESAID 3. BECAUSE the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in sustaining addition of Rs. 28,21,330/- made on account of cash deposit in Saving Bank Account held in the name of Late Shri Anand Jiwan Verma and Shri Amit Verma as undisclosed income of the appellant. 4. BECAUSE on due consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, analysis of the said bank account, it is seen that- (a) there were deposits as well as withdrawals in the said Savings Bank account; (b) the deposits on subsequent dates were covered by withdrawals made on the earlier dates; (c) peak of the credit in the said bank account amounts to Rs. 2,22,082/- only; and (d) even the said amount of Rs. 2,....
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....r been validly initiated nor completed in accordance with the provisions of law, because of the fact that Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma having deceased on 10.11.2006, the notice under section 148, dated 30.03.2016 was wholly illegal and on the basis of such notice, no assessment order could have been passed. It was further submitted, that the assessment order passed on 30.03.2016 was wholly vitiated in law and passed without giving proper opportunity to the appellant. Without prejudice to the aforesaid, it was also submitted that the ITO had erred in law and in facts in holding that Shri. Amit Verma, did not have in his possession any source to explain cash deposits amounting to Rs. 28,21,330/- in his savings bank account because there were deposits as well as withdrawals in the said savings bank account and the deposits on subsequent dates were covered by the withdrawals. Therefore, the peak credit in the said bank account only amounted to Rs. 2,22,082/- and even this sum could not be treated as the income of the appellant (legal heir) of Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma as Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma had pre-deceased on 10.11.2006. It was further submitted that the credit in question a....
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....d. AR') drew our attention to the fact that Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma having deceased on 10.11.2006, the notice under section 148, dated 30.03.2016 addressed to him was wholly illegal and on the basis of such notice, no assessment order such as the one impugned could have been passed. It was further pointed out that because Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma had expired on 10.11.2006, the credits in the bank account in the assessment year 2009-10 could not be attributable to late Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma so as to warrant addition in the hands of his legal heirs. It was further submitted that there were a number of judgments which held that once the notice for initiation of proceedings was served on a non-existence or a deceased person, such proceedings could not be held to be valid. The ld. AR relied upon the cases of PCIT vs. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., 309 CTR (SC) 433, Sumit Balakrishna Gupta vs. ACIT & Ors 414 ITR 292 (Bombay), Balbir Singh vs. Income Tax Officer, ITAT, Chandigarh 'A' Bench in ITA No. 567/Chd/2016 and the case of Rajendra Kumar Sehgal vs. Income Tax Officer, 2019 101 taxman.com 233 (Delhi). 5. On the other hand, the ld. DR Shri. A.K. Singh, pointed out that the ld. ....
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....siness were credited to the joint account of Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma and Shri. Amit Verma. After the death of Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma, Shri. Amit Verma continued the poultry feed business in his own name and the proceeds continued to be credited to this same bank account. Shri. Amit Verma has submitted that he is assessed to tax for this business, a fact which has not been controverted by the Revenue. In view of AIR information that a sum of Rs. 28,21,330/- had been credited to this bank account in the Financial Year 2008-09, the ld. Assessing Officer issued a notice under section 148 in the name of Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma. Subsequently, when compliance was not made and an Inspector was deputed to serve a penalty notice, it was discovered that Shri. Anand Jeewan Verma had expired before the date of issue of notice and even before the date of credit to the bank accounts. The ld. Assessing Officer, thereafter, took the legal heir on record and continued the proceedings against the legal heir and upon not receiving proper compliance held the amount of Rs. 28,21,330/- as unexplained in the hands of the legal heir and added the same back to his income. The ld. CIT (A) does ....
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....f the assessee. Further, in absence of any specific intimation on part of the legal heirs of the assessee to the Department, can it be held that the assessment order passed in the nature of the deceased person is valid in the eyes of law. In the case of Savita Kapila v. ACIT 118 taxmann.com 46 (Delhi), the High Court held that in absence of a statutory provision, a duty cannot be cast upon legal representatives to intimate factum of death of assessee to Department and, thus, where Assessing Officer issued a notice to assessee under Section 148 after his death and, in such a case, it could not have been validly served upon assessee, said notice being invalid, was to be quashed. 10. Accordingly, in absence of any specific statutory provision under the Income Tax law which requires the legal heirs to intimate the Income Tax Department about the death of the assessee, we are of the view that the assessment order cannot be to be held to be valid in the eyes of law only for the reason that the legal heirs of the deceased assessee has not informed the Income Tax Department about the death of the assessee. Further, it is a well-established law that no assessment can be framed in the name o....