SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
H.R.Khanna : P.Jaganmohan Reddy
Commissioner Of Income Tax, Calcutta
Versus
Daulat Ram Rawatmull
Case No. : 1133 of 1134
Date of Decision : 9/12/72
Advocates Appeared: Ahuja B.B. : Khaitan N.R. : Khaitan O.P. : Maheshwari B.P. : Nair S.P. : Nariman F.S. : Nayar S.P. : Sachthey R.N. : Sen B.
Indian Income Tax Act, 1922 – Section 66 – Assessment of Tax – Judgment would dispose of Civil which have been filed by special leave by the Commissioner of Income Tax against the judgment of the Calcutta High court in two references under S. 66 of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1922 and the question which arises for determination is whether there was relevant material before the Income Tax Appellae tribunal to hold that the sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00 in fixed deposit in the name of Biswanath Gupta (Bhuwalka) was the concealed income of the respondent firm for the previous year corresponding to the assessment year 1046-47. – Appeal relates to the sum of Rs. 4,50,000.00 outofthe above sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00, while appeal relates to the remaining sum of Rs. 50,000.00 out of the sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00. – Held, Court find that the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner is vitiated by two factual inaccuracies. – According to the said order, the amount of the fixed deposit receipt in the name of Biswanath was received in Calcutta and was transferred to the credit of the respondent firm against the overdraft with the Bank. – This observation was incorrect because there is ample material on record to show that the amount of the fixed deposit receipt was received, as mentioned earlier, by Biswanath himself. – He also, it would appear, got the interest due on the said amount. – Appellate Assistant Commissioner also took into account the fact that the office of the central Bank in Burrabazar, Calcutta is in the same building in which there are the business premises of the respondent firm. – This was in our opinion, a wholly extraneous and irrelevant circumstance for determining the ownership of Rs. 5,00,000.00 which had been deposited in fixed deposit in the name of Biswanath. – There should, in our opinion, be direct nexus between the conclusion of fact arrived at by the authority concerned and the primary facts upon which that conclusion is based. – Use of extraneous and irrelevant material .in arriving at that conclusion would vitiate the conclusion of fact because it is difficult to predicate as to what extent the extraneous and irrelevant material has influenced the authority in arriving at the conclusion of fact. – Appeals Dismissed
H.R.Khanna, J.
(1) THIS judgment would dispose of Civil No. 1133 and 11,34 of 1969 which have been filed by special leave by the Commissioner of Income Tax against the judgment of the Calcutta High court in two references under S. 66 of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1922 (hereiriafter referred to as the Act) and the question which arises for determination is whether there was relevant material before the Income Tax Appellae tribunal to hold that the sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00 in fixed deposit in the name of Biswanath Gupta (Bhuwalka) was the concealed income of the respondent firm for the previous year corresponding to the assessment year 1046-47. Appeal No. 1133 relates to the sum of Rs. 4,50,000.00 outofthe above sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00, while appeal No. 1134 relates to the remaining sum of Rs. 50,000.00 out of the sum of Rs. 5,00,000.00.
(2) THE assessee firm, who is the respondent in these two appeals, is a registered firm consisting, of six partners. The names of the partners and their shares are given below: Nandlal Bhuwalka -/3/-
Girdharilal Bhuwalka -/3/-
Shyamlal Bhuwalka -/2/-
Bajranglal Bhuwalka -/2/-
Rawatmal Nopany -/3/-
Rameshwarlal Nopany -/3/-
The respondent was carrying on business as dealers and commission agents in jute and other commodities. In addition to that it did speculative business. The respondent also acted as procuring agent for rice and paddy in certain areas for the government of Bengal and received commission on such procurements. The respondent was originally assessed on 30/03/1948, for the assessment year in question on the basis of an income of Rs. 4,71,752.00. On appeal, the income assessed was reduced to Rs. 4,28,448.00. On 19/02/1955, the Income Tax Officer issued notice under S. 34 of the Act stating that he had reason to believe that the respondents income assessable to income tax had been under assessed. He accordingly called upon the respondent to file return of income for the assessment year in question. In response to that notice, the respondent filed a return showing income in accordance with the original assessment as reduced in appeal, namely, Rs. 4,28,448.00. The Income Tax Officer thereafter examined the matter afresh and made reassessment. It was found by the Income Tax Officer that the respondent had obtained overdraft to the extent of Rs. 10,00,000.00 from the central Bank of India Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the central Bank), Calcutta upon the security of two fixed deposit receipts of Rs. 5,00,000.00 each in the central Bank, Jamnagar branch. One of those fixed deposit receipts was, dated 8/11/1944, in the name of Raghunath Prasad Agarwal, who is the same person as Raghunath Prasad Nopany and is son of Rawatmal Nopany, partner of the respondent firm. The other fixed deposit receipt was, dated 21/11/1944, in the name of Biswanath Gupta (B.N. Gupta), who is the same person as Biswanath Bhuwalka and is son of Bajranglal, partner of the respondent firm. There was a third fixed deposit receipt of Rs. 5,00,000.00 issued by central Bank, Jamnagar branch in the name of S.P. Agarwal, son of Rameshwarlal, partner of the respondent firm, but we are not much concerned with that receipt.
(3) ALTHOUGH the present appeals relate to the fixed deposit of Rs. 5,00,000.00 in the name of Biswanath,. we may also set out the facts concerning the fixed deposit receipt in the name of Raghunath Prasad in so far as they are essential for appreciating the point of controversy. On 2/11/1944, an amount of Rs. 5,00,000.00 in cash was tendered to the Burrabazar, Calcutta branch of the central Bank for being transferred to Bombay head office of the Bank. The Bombay head office of the Bank issued thereafter demand draft No. 36 for the amount of Rs. 5,00,000.00 on the Jamnagar branch of the Bank. On the basis of that demand draft, a fixed deposit receipt was issued by the Jamnagar branch of the central Bank on 8/11/1944, in the name ofRaghunath Prasad. Jamnagar was at that t
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