ACIT Vs Krishna Kanth Amand (ITAT Hyderabad)
The ITAT Hyderabad dismissed the Revenue’s appeal and upheld the CIT(A)’s order deleting an addition of ₹2.36 crore made under Section 69 of the Income-tax Act on account of alleged unexplained investment in purchase of immovable property. The Assessing Officer had relied solely on a seized loose sheet (Page-24 of Annexure A/LA/RES/01) recovered during a search on the seller, alleging that the assessee had paid on-money over and above the registered sale consideration. The Tribunal found that no independent or corroborative evidence was produced to establish any cash payment. It also noted that the same seized document had already been held to be a “dumb document” in the seller’s case as well as in the case of the co-purchaser, and the additions based on it had been deleted. Referring to judicial precedents, the Tribunal held that a standalone uncorroborated document could not displace the registered sale deed. Accordingly, the Revenue’s appeal was dismissed and the assessee’s cross-objection was allowed.
Core Issue: Whether an addition of Rs. 2.36 crore under section 69 for unexplained investment in purchase of immovable property could be sustained solely on the basis of a seized loose sheet allegedly evidencing payment of on-money, when no corroborative evidence was brought on record by the Revenue.
