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2018 (9) TMI 275 - AT - Income TaxSale of land - nature of land - agricultural land - Conversion of land before the Appropriate Authority initiated by purchaser M/s Uttar Development Pvt. Ltd. - Held that:- Though the AO and the CIT(A) take note of the fact that there were other co-owners alongwith the assessee. However, for reasons best known to the tax authorities these issues are left unaddressed. As noted no doubt res judicata does not apply strictly to the tax proceedings. The fact that the legitimate expectation of being treated similarly in identically placed facts by coowners at the same point of time cannot be out rightly ignored. The authority of the state rests on the assumption and the presumption that the state acts for the welfare of the individual. No doubt when the benefits of the individual are pitted against the benefits of the society the individual benefit has to yield to the greater good of the society. No stretch of imagination the greater good of the society can be presumed to be served when identically placed individuals are meted with separate codes and actions. There is presumption of legitimate expectation embedded in the social democratic frame work where individual can be presumed to have an inherent right of expecting similar treatment in the eyes of law for similar conduct. The doctrine of resjudicata cannot be picked up and abused to shelter any and every wrong doing of the state. To condone such an action would lead to eroding the trust and faith in the state action and clothe state functionaries as an alien exploitive machinery which lets loose unchecked the personal whims and fancies of the state functionaries - set aside the impugned order in toto and restore the issue back to the file of the CIT(Appeals) with the direction to denovo pass a speaking order in accordance with law in the light of the aforesaid directions
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