Case Law Details
Rajat Minerals Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Ranchi)
Conclusion: Various additions/disallowances made by AO were clearly beyond the scope of authority vested under s.153A owing to absence of any incriminating material or evidence deduced as a result of search in so far as completed assessments were concerned and the same was not permissible in law.
Held: Additions were made by AO solely on the basis of some TEP received in November 2016 as against search conducted in July 2014. The assessment for AY 2009-10 to 2012-13 were stood concluded on the date of search. Thus, such alleged incriminating information, if any, unconnected to the search would not render the additions under s.153A as valid in so far as concluded assessments were concerned. The burden of proof towards existence of undisclosed income discovered as a result of search was on the Revenue. No evidence was stated to have been found at search of assessee to suggest existence of undisclosed income as perceived by the AO. Vague reference made to various seized material in the course of remand proceedings were also found to be unconnected to the search on assessee. There was nothing on record that information contained in seized documents as per list of inventory were not recorded or reflected in the books of accounts found during search. The seized documents referred to in the remand proceedings at a later stage post search were admittedly found to be from the possession of third parties parallely searched. In the absence of any reference to such seized documents in the assessment order and in view of the overwhelming reference to unsubstantiated tax evasion petition obtained in November 2016 post search, the action of AO towards making additions in respect of concluded assessments towards undisclosed income was contrary to the judicial dicta. Accordingly, various additions/disallowances made by AO were clearly beyond the scope of authority vested under s.153A owing to absence of any incriminating material or evidence deduced as a result of search in so far as completed assessments were concerned. Additions/disallowances made in assessments framed under s.153A in respect of captioned assessees pertaining to AYs. 2009-10 to 2012-13 were thus required to be quashed on this score too. The assessments/re-assessments pending on the date of search i.e. AY 2013-14 to 2015-16 which stood abated by operation of law would however be governed by normal assessment powers under s.153A
FULL TEXT OF THE ITAT JUDGEMENT
1. The captioned appeals directed at the instance of two different assessees arise from the respective orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) (‘CIT(A)’) for different assessment years as tabulated below:
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
