TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2003 (6) TMI 174
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.... case in short are that the assessee filed return on 28-10-1994 disclosing a total income of Rs. 15,64,960 which was taken up for scrutiny. While completing the assessment, the Assessing Officer found that the assessee has debited towards the advertisement and sales promotion Rs. 69,54,507. The Assessing Officer asked the assessee to furnish necessary details and to explain as to how there was a high rise in the expenditure on account of advertisement and sales promotion in the instant year. The assessee stated before the Assessing Officer that the sales had gone up nearly about 17% in the year under consideration and such expenditure was inevitable. The controversy arises when the Assessing Officer added back Rs. 58,12,463 in respect of sales promotion and advertisement expenses, the assessee carried the matter in appeal before the CIT(A) who on the basis of the submission made before him deleted the addition made by the Assessing Officer. 5. The Ld. D.R. stated that the assessee was asked to explain the necessity of a wholesale dealer in incurring expenditure on advertisement and sales promotion as normally it is seen that for the products of cigarettes/tobacco etc. it is the ....
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....no genuine business was being carried out by the party and the account had been opened for the simple purpose of encashing cheques issued by the assessee to M/s. Graphic Circle. He has, therefore, reiterated that the Assessing Officer was quite justified in disallowing the expenses which, according to him, was an arrangement to inflate the expenditure. 6. The Ld. A.R. mentioned that the assessee made payment of Rs. 35,900 only to M/s. Graphic Circle but it was wrongly mentioned as Rs. 5,60,000 by the Assessing Officer and the payments made to M/s. Graphic Circle was wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business and the payments made were fully verifiable. He has therefore asserted that the Assessing Officer erred in disallowing the same by holding that the payment made was an arrangement to inflate the expenditure. He has further mentioned that the Assessing Officer relied on the Inspector's report and certain individuals alleged to have been examined by the Inspectors deputed by him in connection with the payment to M/s. Graphic Circle without handling over a copy of the Inspector's report and without producing the other parties examined by the Inspector for cross-examinat....
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....any opportunities to the assessee to produce the party which they did not do and also summons under section 131 could not be served as the party is not traceable at the address given by the assessee. He has, therefore, stated that the Assessing Officer was quite justified in disallowing the expenditure. 10. The Ld. A.R. contended that the expenses incurred on payment to M/s. Universal Printer was wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the business and the payments made were fully verifiable. It was further brought to our notice that the Assessing Officer totally relied on the Inspector's report and certain other individuals alleged to have examined by the said Inspector in connection with that payment to M/s. Universal Printers without giving copy of the Inspector's report and without producing other parties examined by the Inspector for cross-examination by the assessee. 11. We have heard both the sides and gone through the record. In this connection our observations in respect of payment made to M/s. Graphic Circle should be followed. For the sake of brevity, we are not repeating the same. 12. As regards the payment to M/s. Tara Enterprises, the Ld. D.R. mentioned tha....
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....nally raised on I.T.C. and not on H.T.C. The DR has, therefore, reiterated that the Assessing Officer has rightly disallowed the expenses and added back the same in the total income of the assessee. 16A. The Ld. A.R. stated that the expenses incurred on payments to M/s. Fleet amounting to Rs. 1,02,538 for hiring cars was wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business and the payments were fully verified by the Assessing Officer. It was further stated that the Assessing Officer erred in disallowing the payment to M/s. Fleet merely on the ground that originally the bills were raised on the principals i.e., I.T.C. Ltd. and duty slips were signed by the I.T.C. personnel but subsequently a fresh bill was raised in the name of the assessee. In this connection we have noticed from the order of the Ld. CIT(A) that the Assessing Officer was told by the I.T.C. that the said amount was paid by H.T.C. and hence a fresh consolidated bill of the said amount was raised on H.T.C. giving bill No. June/66A and the duty slips were signed by the I.T.C. personal and not by the people from the H.T.C. In view of the above fact, we do not find any justification in interfering with the order of the ....
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....ssing Officer that the bank account in this case also had been closed. From the order of the Assessing Officer, it appears that he is admitting the fact that the bank account existed and the relevant cheques were encashed by the assessee. We do not therefore find any infirmity in the order of the Ld. CIT(A) which is, therefore, sustained. 23. As regards the disallowance of a sum of Rs. 27,68,607 under the head "display and sampling expenses", the Ld. D.R. mentioned that the assessee could not produce the list of shop where the assessee distributed the packets of cigarettes throughout Calcutta for displaying as well as for sampling. He has therefore supported the view taken by the Assessing Officer and stated that the Ld. CIT(A) was unjustified in reversing the order of the Assessing Officer. 24. The Ld. A.R. for the assessee contended that displaying and sampling expenses amounting to Rs. 27,68,607 was made wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business and which were fully verifiable from the recross of the assessee. He has therefore reiterated that the Assessing Officer was not justified at all in disallowing the same without allowing the assessee any opportunity to reb....
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.... were free to undertake such expenditure at their own discretion but were under no obligation to the company to do so'. 28. Coming to more specific observations, Assessing Officer noted that the assessee has debited a total amount of Rs. 5,60,000 as payment to one M/s. Grafic Circle of 'Kudiram Bose Road, PO Hridyapur, 24 Pargana', ostensibly for car hire charges, but inspector's spot enquiry report revealed that no such concern existed at the given address. Enquiries from the local residents and post office further revealed that there was no such concern in existence in past also. These facts are said to have been pointed out to the assessee vide order sheet entry 11th March, 1997 and also by a letter dated 12th March, 1997, but all that the assessee had to say was that "we have furnished all information to you, which was in our possession and control i.e., we submitted to you copies of bills and payment details. We would bring to your kind attention that all payments were made by account payee cheques." The Assessing Officer further made efforts to trace this M/s. Grafic Circle by tracing the bank account details, through discharged cheques of the assessee, from records of the....
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....als were by cash. It was thus concluded that this payment was also a bogus payment only for the purpose of inflating the expenditure and, thereby reducing the tax liability. 30. The Assessing Officer further noticed that payments of Rs. 5,93,900 were made to M/s. Ma Tara Enterprises of '8 Ekdalia Road', ostensibly for the purpose of hiring persons for sales promotion drives. Again spot enquiries confirmed that no such concern existed at the given address and local enquiries revealed that no such concern was in existence at any point of time. These facts communicated to the assessee were met with assessee's response extracted in paragraph 28 above i.e., "We have furnished all information to you, which was in our possession and control i.e., we submitted to you copies of bills and payment details. We would bring to your kind attention that all payments were made by account payee cheques." The Assessing Officer further made efforts to trace this M/s. Ma Tara Enterprises by tracing the bank account details, through discharged cheques of the assessee, from records of the assessee's banker. This exercise revealed that M/s. Ma Tara Enterprises was having a current account No. 285 with ....
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....given address though the Assessing Officer has also admitted that, according to spot enquiries conducted through inspector, such a concern did exist till 1994. 34. It was further noticed by the Assessing Officer that the assessee claimed a deduction of Rs. 27,68,607 on account of sampling and display expenses. According to the assessee, this amount represented distribution of cigarettes to various vendors for display and as free samples. It is an admitted position that despite several requisitions by the Assessing Officer, the assessee was not in a position to even furnish the list of shops or any other register, report or even other document which could throw some light in the matter. In response to show-cause notice requiring the assessee to show cause as to why, in the absence of necessary clarifications and evidences to substantiate the claim, this expenditure of Rs. 28,68,607 should not be disallowed, the assessee, vide letter dated 18-3-1997 stated that "We would bring to your kind attention that sampling/display expenses have been genuinely incurred during the year from time to time which we have already explained to you. These cigarettes were distributed, through hawkers....
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.... that this company had the bank account. 41. Disallowance of Rs. 1,02,538, on account of payment made to M/s. Fleet, was deleted by the CIT(A) on the ground that once ITC Ltd. itself has confirmed that the payment was to be made by the assessee, the Assessing Officer was not justified in deleting the same on the ground that duty slips were signed by ITC officials. 42. Regarding disallowance of Rs. 1,50,000 on account of payment made to M/s. Market Links, the CIT(A) noted that the claim of the assessee was only Rs. 1,12,500 and complete details in respect of the same were duly furnished by the assessee but the Assessing Officer, without considering. the explanations of the assessee, disallowed Rs. 1,50,000. The CIT(A) thus deleted this disallowance also. 43. The CIT(A) then moved on to disallowance of Rs. 27,68,607 under the head Display and Sampling Expenses and observed as follows: "The Assessing Officer's main grievance against the appellant is that when it had no contractual obligation from the manufacturer, it chose to spend over Rs. 28 lakhs for this expenses. The AIR argued that in the earlier year the entire expenditure under the sales promotion and advertisement....
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....s. 3,59,000. I find that the details of this debit, as culled out from related bills, are as follows:-- 1-5-1993 Bill for car hire charges 4 cars daily X 20 days @ Rs. 750 per car (including fuel, driver and all maintenance) Rs. 60,000 1-6-1993 Bill for car hire charges 4 cars daily X 20 days @ Rs. 750 per car (includ....
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....d does not even contain phone number of the concern, and states the names and address of this concern, besides stating "All kinds of printing, binding and general order suppliers". It is indeed unusual that a printer, binder and general order supplier is making available such a large number of cars to the assessee. It is also interesting to note that the address given in the bill is of a place outside the city and the assessee did not even bother to know phone number of a concern which is making available at least four, and at times as many as seven, cars a day. There is no mention anywhere about the make or registration number of cars, said. There is not even circumstantial evidence about the use of these cars or any evidence by way of duty slips signed by those who used the cars. When during the course of hearing, this bench desired to know use of these vehicles, learned counsel for the assessee gave a vague explanation that these cars were made available to marketing staff of ITC. I may also mention that there is no evidence at all about the factum of Grafic Circle having actually made available these cars and the use to which these cars were put. I have also noticed that the as....
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.... Circle did not at all exist, that account payee cheques were converted into cash in a fraudulent manner, and that there is no evidence, direct or corroborative, that cars were actually made available to the assessee. The disallowance is, therefore, justified on merits of the case. As has been observed by Hon'ble Supreme Court, in the landmark case of CIT v. Durga Prasad More 82 ITR 540 'it is true that apparent must be considered real until it is shown that there are reasons to believe that apparent is not real' but then 'the taxing authorities were not required to put on blinkers while looking at the d9cuments produced before them'. Their Lordships have further observed that, "Science has not yet invented any instrument to test the reliability of the evidence placed before a court or a Tribunal. Therefore, the courts and tribunals have to judge the evidence before them by applying the test of human probabilities." Examined in the light of this guidance also, I find it a fit case for Assessing Officer's coming to the conclusion that the assessee's claim for expenditure was unsubstantiated, bogus and, therefore, only fit to be rejected. I may mention that the reasons on account of ....
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....p; Towards the cost of printing Wills Pop-Ups on 290 gms Super Lucky Art Board with lamination and Base printed in 3 colours etc... @ Rs. 9.20 per pc - 30,000 pcs + packing and transportation etc. Rs. 2,86,500 18-2-1994 Towards the cost of printing Gold Flake show card on 135 gm Super Lucky Art paper with lamination @ Rs. 14 per piece - 80,000 pcs + packing and  ....
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....u, which was in our possession and control i.e., we submitted to you copies of bills and payment details". I find it a very evasive reply. Universal Printers was doing large jobs, valued at almost Rs. 15 lakhs for that year, and it is difficult to believe that the assessee did not even realise that the address given by this concern was that of a vacant plot. A printing press capable of doing such sophisticated jobs, as was billed to the assessee, cannot disappear in thin air and some persons in the assessee company should have had some further information about this concern. I have also noted that once again the account through which cheques are encashed was an unintroduced account and there were only cash withdrawals from that account. I have also noted that the assessee has not been able to give any evidence - direct or corroborative - about the factum of having received the printed material said to have been printed by Universal Printers, or about distribution of such material. All that the assessee has been able to produce is a bill which anyway contains a fake address - something which, in my view, is not sufficient to entitle the assessee for a claim for deduction. The bank a....
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....bsp;25 days X40 boys per day @ Rs. 130 per day per boy Rs. 97,500 31-7-1993 Sales Promoters (Hired boys) 20 days X 40 boys per day @ Rs. 130 per day per boy Rs. 65,000 1-9-1993 Sales Promoters (Hired boys) 25 days X 92 boys per day @ Rs. 130 per day per boy Rs. 1,61,000 &nb....
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....d except for copy of bill on record, that services of these sales promoters was actually made available, that these sales promoters actually rendered any services at all, and that the organisation which claims to have supplied these personnel actually existed. I find it difficult to believe that none in the assessee concern has any clue about where this agency, which catered to such a large requirement of manpower, has vanished. The assessee does not even have the basic contact details of this concern. I find it difficult to believe that it is a mere coincidence that only for this, and similar other suppliers of doubtful existence, cheques get encashed through un-introduced bank accounts which are used only for cash withdrawals of the account payee cheques so deposited. Elaborate exercise done by the Assessing Officer shows that there is reasonable basis to believe that Ma Tara Enterprises did not at all exist, that account payee cheques were converted into cash in a fraudulent manner, and that there is no evidence, direct or corroborative, any manpower was actually supplied by this Ma Tara Enterprises to the assessee. There is no mention of phone numbers etc. on the bill and the a....
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....e, the question of principles governing admissibility of an expense would only come to play when the factum of expense having actually been incurred is established. The assessee's case fails on this preliminary ground itself. As for inspector's report, it may have been one of the factors persuading Assessing Officer to resort to disallowance but it was certainly not the proximate factor and even without that report, disallowance was fully justified. Accordingly, I am not inclined to go into that aspect of the matter. I have taken particular note of the fact that the assessee accepts that he is not in a position to give any specific details in support of the expenditure having been actually incurred and assessee's submissions, even before us, revolved around how expenditure on account of free samples could be justified on account of commercial expediency. When there is nothing in support of the fact about the expenditure having actually been incurred, discussions about commercial expediency of such an expenditure are not relevant. Keeping in view all these factors, as also entirety of the case, I deem it fit to restore the disallowance of Rs. 27,68,607 made by the Assessing Officer ....
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....lowing expenditure, to the file of the Assessing Officer with a direction to decide the matter de novo or whether the Tribunal should have restored the disallowances deleted by the CIT(A):-- Payment to Ma Tara Enterprises for supply of temporary workers Rs. 5,93,000 Sampling and Display Expenses for distribution of free cigarette samples Rs. 27,68,607 THIRD MEMBER ORDER Per Shri M.A. Bakshi, Vice-President.--The appeal of the Revenue for the assessment year 1994-95 was heard by "C" Bench of the Tribunal. As a result of difference of opinion amongst the Members, the Hon'ble President has nominated me as Third Member in respect of the following points of difference:-- 1. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal should have restored the matter regarding disallowances of following expenditure to the file of the Assessing Officer with a direction to find out whether the bank account of the recipient was opened with proper direction and, if, so, allow the relief as per the law, and to decide the matter de novo after confronting the assessee with the ....
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....ny in regard to the expenses claimed under the heads "advertisement" and "sale promotion". 3. On enquiry, the Assessing Officer found the following expenditure as bogus and, accordingly, disallowed the same:-- (a) On account of expense incurred through M/s. Grafic Circle Rs. 5,60,000 (b) On account of expense incurred through M/s. Universal Printers. Rs. 15,50,658 (c) On account of expense incurred through Ma Tara Enterprises Rs. 5,93,900 (d) On account of expense incurred through M/s. Fleet Rs. 1,02,538 (e) On account of expense incurred through Market Links &....
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....ices of the persons were requires was also not established. The Assessing Officer on enquiry found that the bank account had been opened in the name of the concern without any introduction and that the withdrawals had been made from the bank account immediately after deposit of the cheques. In this case also, there was no mention of the phone No. etc. in the bill. When the assessee was confronted it was simply stated that whatever evidence was available to the assessee had been produced and that the expenditure is genuine. 6. In regard to the display and sampling expenses of Rs. 27,68,607, the Assessing Officer disallowed the claim for want of evidence. The assessee had claimed that free samples had been distributed of the total value of Rs. 27,68,607 in the year under appeal. The Assessing Officer found that there was nothing more than the statement of the assessee to support the claim of the assessee. When asked to support the claim, it was admitted by the assessee that there is no supporting evidence. Even the names of the dealers to whom the free samples are purported to have been distributed were not made available to the Assessing Officer. 7. The CIT(A) has deleted the ....
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....sallowances of Rs. 3,59,000, Rs. 14,99,860, Rs. 5,93,900 and Rs. 27,68,607 being item Nos. (a), (b), (c) and (g) in para-3 above. 10. The Ld. Departmental Representative contended that the order of the Ld. Accountant Member is based on facts and is in accordance with law and accordingly same view may be adopted. However, on the other hand, the learned counsel for the assessee sought to support the order of the Ld. Judicial Member. The contentions advanced before the Division Bench have been reiterated before me by the parties. 11. Having given my careful consideration to the rival contentions and material on record, I am of the considered view that the crux of this appeal is as to whether the respondent had discharged the onus of justifying substantial increase in the expenses on account of advertisement and sales promotion and whether the expenses qualify for deduction. As against expenses of Rs. 2,03,507 in assessment year 1992-93 and Rs. 14,19,127 in assessment year 1993-94, there was an increase of about 500% in respect of the aforementioned expenses in the year under appeal. As pointed out elsewhere in this order, the assessee had claimed expenses of Rs. 69,54,507 in the....
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....deriving income from profits and gains of business in accordance with the method of accounting regularly followed by the assessee. In this case, the assessee has produced the books of account before the Assessing Officer and also produced prima facie evidence in support of the claim of expenditure. The Assessing Officer found unusual spurt in various expenses. To be precise, as against the expenditure of Rs. 14,19,127 in assessment year 1993-94 and Rs. 2,03,507 in assessment year 1992-93, the assessee had claimed expenses of Rs. 69,54,507 under the head "sales promotion expenses". In view of the considerable increase in the claim of sales promotion expenses, the Assessing Officer was duty bound to ask the assessee to support the claim. The assessee furnished evidence in the form of bills from the parties. It was also stated that the payments had been made by means of crossed cheques. If the Assessing Officer had not made any enquiry in regard to the evidence furnished by the assessee, perhaps the claim could be allowed on the basis of the prima facie evidence furnished by the assessee. So, however, in this case the Assessing Officer thought it prudent to make enquiry as a result of....
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....g Officer strangely found that the bank account had not been opened through any introduction, nor was any address given in the account opening form. The account in the name of M/s. Grafic Circle had been opened on 27-8-1993 and the same had been closed on 12-2-1995. All the cheques issued by the assessee in the name of M/s. Grafic Circle had been deposited in the said account. However, the withdrawal had been made in the next available working day. The assessee was asked to produce any person from M/s. Grafic Circle, but no one was produced. A notice under section 131 could not be served for want of correct address. It was in the light of these facts that the Assessing Officer came to the conclusion that the assessee had claimed a bogus payment to inflate the expenditure and to reduce the tax liability. 16. As is evident from the facts stated above, the evidence produced by the assessee by way of bills from M/s. Grafic Circle and the fact of payment by payees account cheques, did not support the claim of the assessee in view of the enquiry conducted by the Assessing Officer. The Assessing Officer, as already pointed out, did not found M/s. Grafic Circle in existence at the given....
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....lected by the Assessing Officer through his Inspector. The assessee at no stage demanded copy of the report of the Inspector. The Inspector assists the Assessing Officer in making enquiries for the purpose of assessment. Since the evidence collected by the Assessing Officer was disclosed to the assessee and reasonable opportunity given for rebuttal, there is no reason for restoring the issue to the file of the Assessing Officer for fresh decision. The CIT(A) has unjustifiably deleted the addition merely because the payment made to the party was by way of payees account cheques. It is settled law that the mere payment by Account Payee Cheques is not sufficient to discharge the onus that rests on the assessee. As is observed in this case, it is not difficult for anyone to open a bank account in any name. The bankers were not required to make any enquiry about the correctness of the address given in the account opening form. In this case, strangely no one had introduced M/s. Grafic Circle for opening the bank account. The address of M/s. Grafic Circle was not also mentioned in the account opening form. It is quite possible to open such an account if any party is known to the bankers. ....
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....ange co-incidence that in this case also the account opened by Sri Niranjan Pal was opened without any introduction against the bank rules. The pattern of deposits of cheques and withdrawals from bank account was found similar with the pattern in the case of M/s. Grafic Circle. The assessee on being confronted with results of enquiry stated that they are relying on the evidence on record. The Assessing Officer on the basis of the enquiry made held that the assessee had made a claim of bogus expenditure. 18. The principles relating to the burden of proof have been specified above. The initial burden to establish the genuineness of the expenditure and to support the expenditure by necessary evidence was upon the assessee. The assessee furnished bills but on enquiry it was found that the address given on the bills was a fake address. The assessee was confronted. No further evidence was produced, except claiming that the payment had been made by account payee cheques. As pointed out above, mere payment by account payee cheque is not sacrosanct nor can it make a non-genuine transaction genuine, as held by their Lordships of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Precision Finance (P.....
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....he real beneficiary of the bank account opened in the name of M/s. Universal Printers, but that by itself may not be sufficient for allowance of deduction in respect of the claim of Rs. 14,99,860 debited in the account of M/s. Universal Printers purportedly for printing of 'Gold Flake' and 'Wills' show card. In my considered view, the disallowance of Rs. 14,99,860 made by the Assessing Officer for want of evidence is justified on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and there is no justification for remanding the matter to the file of the Assessing Officer. The addition of Rs. 14,99,860 deleted by the CIT(A) is thus required to be restored. 19. Now I take up the disallowance of Rs. 5,93,900 on account of payment to M/s. Ma Tara Enterprises purportedly on account of supply of temporary workers. The assessee furnished five bills for the aggregate amount of Rs. 5,93,900. The particulars provided in the bills were in regard to number of boys and number of days and the rate per boy. The payment had been made by account payee cheques. In this case also on the basis of the enquiry made by the Assessing Officer, the party was not found to exist at the given address. There was ....
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....lso noteworthy that there is no past history of such expenditure having been incurred by the assessee. The assessee's representative had vehemently argued before the authorities that the expenditure incurred by the assessee falls within the ambit of section 37(1) as an expenditure having been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business. It had been claimed that the wholly and exclusively mentioned in section 37(1) does not mean necessarily and that ordinarily it is for the assessee to decide whether any expenditure should be incurred or not for the purpose of business. It was also claimed that the assessee may incur expenditure voluntarily for moving the business and not necessarily to earn the profits. Reference was also made to the letter of the ITC which confirmed that the assessee was at liberty to incur expenditure on advertisement and sales promotion. This contention advanced on behalf of the assessee has appealed to the CIT(A) and he has, accordingly, deleted the addition. 21. In regard to this expenditure, the Assessing Officer had asked the assessee to furnish the details of the persons to whom the free samples were distributed. However, the assessee fai....
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....essing Officer is fully justified. The addition of Rs. 27,68,607 is thus required to be restored. I direct accordingly. There is no justification for remanding the matter to the Assessing Officer. 22. To sum up, claim made by the assessee in the year under appeal under the head "sales promotion expenses" was more than 500% than the claim made in the preceding year. The claim in assessment year 1992-93 under the head 'sales promotion expenses' was about Rs. 2 lakhs only and for 1993-94 Rs. 14,19,127 only. In the light of disparity of the claim when compared with the claim made for preceding years, the Assessing Officer was duty bound to make enquiries and demand necessary evidence in support of the claim. The evidence furnished by the assessee having been found to be unreliable, the Assessing Officer was justified to disallow the claim. As held by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in the case of Durga Prasad More "Science has not yet invented any instrument to test the reliability of the evidence placed before a court of Tribunal. Therefore, the courts and Tribunals have to judge the evidence before them by applying the test of human probabilities." This view has been reiterat....
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....f Rs. 69,54,507 under the head 'Sales Promotion Expenses'. I, therefore, concur with the finding of the Ld. Accountant Member and I am unable to persuade myself to agree with the Ld. Judicial Member for sending the issues back to the Assessing Officer for fresh decision in accordance with the directions contained in the order of the learned Judicial Member. 24. Let the matter be placed before the regular Bench for passing the consequential order in accordance with the majority view. ORDER Per B.K. Mitra, J.M.--The appeal of the Revenue for the assessment year 1994-95 was heard by "C" Bench of the Tribunal. As a result of difference of opinion amongst the Members, the Hon'ble President had nominated the Hon'ble Vice-President (KZ) as Third Member in respect of the following points of difference:-- 1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal should have resorted the matter regarding disallowances of following expenditure to the file of the Assessing Officer with a direction to find out whether the bank account of the recipient was opened with proper direction and, if, so, allow the relief as per the laws, and to decide the matter de novo af....