1987 Supreme(All) 459
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
R. M. Sahai and Om Prakash, JJ.
SRI JAGDISH SARAN SHUKLA - Appellant
Versus
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX - Respondents
Income-tax Application 5 Of 1987
Decided On : 10/27/1987
V.Gulati
The assessee has the onus to prove the source of investment and must provide the complete address of the purchaser to the assessing officer in order to compel the appearance of the purchaser.
Headnote:
INCOME TAX - Section 256(2) - Reference to High Court - Assessee failed to produce purchaser to establish source of investment in fixed deposit receipts - Assessee requested assessing officer to locate purchaser but did not provide complete address - Assessing officer not obligated to issue summons - No question of law arises.
Fact of the Case:
The assessee purchased fixed deposit receipts and was asked to explain the investment. He claimed to have acquired jewellery from his mother on partition and invested the sale proceeds in the fixed deposit receipts. The assessing officer disbelieved the evidence and added the investment as unexplained income. The assessee appealed to the Commissioner and then to the Tribunal. The Tribunal set aside the assessment order and remanded the case to the assessing officer with a direction to give the assessee an opportunity to produce the purchaser of the jewellery.
Finding of the Court:
The assessee failed to produce the purchaser before the assessing officer. He requested the assessing officer to locate the purchaser, but did not provide the complete address. The assessing officer did not issue summons to the purchaser.
Issues: Whether the assessing officer failed to issue summons illegally.
Ratio Decidendi: The onus was on the assessee to produce the purchaser before the assessing officer. He could have sought the assistance of the assessing officer to force the appearance of the purchaser, but he failed to furnish the complete address of the purchaser to the assessing officer. Therefore, the assessing officer was not obligated to issue summons.
Final Decision: The application for reference to the High Court is rejected.
( 1 ) THIS is an application under Section 256 (2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, by the. assesses for asking the Tribunal to state the case on the following questions : " (i) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in drawing an adverse inference and in sustaining the addition of Rs. 39,200 on the finding that the assessee had failed to fulfil the undertaking to produce M/s. Chaman Lal Dalbir Singh notwithstanding the changed circumstances that the said dealer had shifted to Kashmir and failure of the authorities below to issue commission or summons for the examination of M/s. Chaman Lal Dalbir Singh for which the assessee had made specific request ? (ii) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the authorities below should not have issued summons to Delhi party specially when his address as well as his control licence was made known by the appellant and also because the appellant had agreed to bear all the expenses in this regard ? (iii) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessee could not have been said to have discharged his initial burden and whether the Income-tax Officer was justified in not summoning the parties concerned if he was not satisfied about the genuineness of the fixed deposit receipts ? (iv) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the above amount of Rs. 39,200 could be recorded as unexplained investment and added as income in the hands of the assessee and is there any material on record for such a finding ? (v) Whether the Tribunal was right in recording the finding that there was no evidence that the assessees mother possessed jewellery and she had given jewellery to the assessee to the exclusion of other brothers and whether there is any material on record to score such a finding ? (vi) Whether the Tribunal was right in taking the view that the assessee had not proved the factum of sale of jewellery or had not produced any evidence in regard thereto and had failed to discharge the onus as the source from which the fixed deposits were purchased and whether for all these findings there is any material on record and whether the findings recorded by the income-tax Appellate Tribunal are contrary to the evidence on record and are based on surmises and conjectures ? (vii) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the finding of the Tribunal that the sum of Rs. 39,200 being the investment in the name of the members of the family was income liable to assessment in the hands of the assessee as income from other sources and whether such findings are not contrary to the evidence on record and are, therefore, vitiated by irrelevant considerations ? "
( 2 ) THE assessee purchased certain fixed deposit receipts and he was called upon by the assessing officer to explain the investment made therein. The case of the assessee was that he acquired jewellery from his mother on partition, the sale proceeds of which had been invested by him in fixed deposit receipts aggregating to Rs. 39,200. The assessee had led evidence to explain the source of the investment but that evidence was disbelieved by the assessing officer. The assessee appealed before the Commissioner but failed.
( 3 ) THEN the" assessee carried the dispute to the Tribunal. One of the reasons to disbelieve the assessees case was that he failed to produce the purchasers, namely, M/s. Chaman Lal Dalbir singh (hereinafter referred to as " the purchaser"), to establish the fact that he had sold jewellery to the purchaser and the sale proceeds had been invested in the fixed deposit receipts. The assessee had given an undertaking before the Tribunal that he would produce the purchaser before the assessing officer. Having acted upon this undertaking of the assessee, the Tribunal set aside the assessment order and remanded the case to the assessing officer with a direction that after giving a