JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—

1.Leave granted.

2.The assessee is in appeal before us aggrieved by and dissatisfied with a judgment dated 29.9.2005, passed by a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court in ITRC No.492 of 1998 whereby and whereunder answer to the following question was rendered in the negative. “Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that penalty u/s.271(1)(C) was not exigible in the present case?”

3.Shorn of all unnecessary details the fact of the matter is as under :

Appellant is an individual. He is an engineering graduate. Apart from his income by way of salary, he was having shares of profit of a number of firms besides income from proprietorship business. He has also earned income from dividend and interest. The banker of the assessee was the Syndicate Bank. A power of attorney was given by the appellant in its favour. The shares of the companies which the appellant owned were lodged with and in custody of the said Bank. Under his instructions, the Bank used to purchase shares of various companies and kept with it the physical possession thereof. It has also sold the shares of the appellant and delivered the same