Case Law Details
ACIT Vs V K Gupta (Delhi High Court)
The issue under consideration is that the respondent had willfully defaulted in filing a return pursuant to the notices issued under Section 153A of the Act and thus, committed the offence punishable under Section 276CC of the Act.
The contention that the respondent was further required to specify the document which was required by him for filing the return, to rebut the presumption of culpable mental state, is unpersuasive. The returns for the relevant assessment year had already been filed in due course. The respondent was now called upon to once again file the return pursuant to the allegedly incriminating material seized during the search and seizure operations. Plainly, in the circumstances, it would be necessary for the respondent to examine all material documents seized during the search and seizure operations before filing the return. The respondent had already indicated his difficulty in doing so in view of the family disputes and had requested for inspection and copies of all documents seized during the raid.
In the given circumstances, the appellate court had concluded that the respondent’s failure to file the return at the material time could not be considered as willful.
This Court finds no fault with the trial court’s view. Undeniably, it is a plausible one and, therefore, warrants no interference by this Court.
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