CIT Vs Goldstone Cements Limited (Gauhati High Court)
Gauhati High Court held that discharge of burden by assessee under section 68 of the Income Tax Act i.e. identity, creditworthiness and genuineness of transaction is question of fact and not substantial question of law. Accordingly, appeal is not maintainable.
Facts- Upon a search and seizure as per Section 132 of the IT Act being conducted in the office premises of the respondent company as well as in the residence of family members and other business concerns etc., the Assessing Authority having doubted the sale transaction in respect of few companies, framed assessment u/s. 153A/143 (3) of the IT Act and determined the assessed income of the respondent company for the annual year 2017-19.
The Assessing Authority, doubted the genuineness of the transaction in respect of share capital received from M/s. Orchid Finlease Pvt. Ltd. amounting to Rs. 1,75,54,848/- and M/s. Shantidham Marketing Pvt. Ltd. amounting to Rs. 32,94,00,000/- and accordingly added Rs. 34,69,54,848/- to the income of the respondent company u/s. 68 of the IT Act.
Conclusion- Held that the decision of the Second Appellate Tribunal being based on evidence, the same cannot be therefore said to be perverse. It is evident that the Second Appellate Tribunal has specifically held that the genuineness and creditworthiness of the transaction in question has been fully established by the assessee respondent. In our opinion, the aforesaid finding being a finding of fact, this Court cannot upset such finding of fact in this appeal filed under Section 260A of the IT Act. In fact, the first substantial question of law whether the learned Tribunal erred in law in holding that the assessee had discharged its burden of substantiation of the identity, creditworthiness and genuineness of the transaction involving receipt of share application money being essentially a question of fact is not a substantial question of law. Similarly, the second substantial question of law that whether the learned Tribunal was justified in deleting the addition under Section 68 of IT Act of share application money received from M/s. Shantidham Marketing Pvt. Ltd and M/s. Orchid Finlease Pvt. Ltd. is also essentially a question of fact and is not a substantial question of law.
