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2023 (1) TMI 1010 - AT - Income TaxUnexplained cash deposits - cash deposited in the saving bank account by an agriculturist, without establishing any other source of Income - HELD THAT:- We concur with the view taken by the A.O that it is beyond preponderance of human probability that the assessee would have withdrawn cash from his bank account with Jila Sahakari Kendriya Bank, Baradwar Branch from 06.01.2010 onwards and thereafter, kept the same with him till 20.05.2011 i.e. for a period of more than 1 year and redeposited the said sum at the time of sale of agricultural land - as the aforesaid explanation of the assessee is nothing but a concocted story hatched by him to justify the source of cash deposits, thus, the same cannot be accepted and had rightly been rejected by the A.O. Cash deposits were sourced from his agriculture income - We find that as observed by the A.O, and, rightly so, as the assessee was in receipt of sale proceeds of agricultural produce i.e. paddy vide cheques from the samiti to whom the same were sold, therefore, his aforesaid explanation in absence of any supporting material does not merit acceptance. In case, the assessee would have sold any intermittent crop, then, the onus was cast upon him to establish the said fact by placing on record supporting documentary evidence, which,we find had not been done by him. On the basis of aforesaid observations, find no infirmity in the view taken by the A.O that the assessee’s claim that cash deposits in his bank account was partly sourced out of his agriculture income did not merit acceptance. Claim of the assessee that the cash deposits in question were sourced out of his past savings - Though he had failed to place on record any material which would have evidenced the availability of any amount of cash in hand out of his past savings, but the A.O in all fairness had accepted his claim to the extent of Rs.1 lac, which thereafter had been raised by the CIT(Appeals) to an amount of Rs.3 lac. Considering the aforesaid fact, find no infirmity in the view taken by the A.O that the assessee had failed to substantiate his claim that the entire amount of cash deposits in his bank account were sourced out of his past savings. Invocation of section 69A - As the assessee at the time of making the cash deposits in the bank account i.e. on 20/25.05.2011 was the owner of cash i.e. money, and had failed to come forth with any explanation about the nature and source of the acquisition of the same, therefore, no infirmity can be attributed to the invocation of the provisions of Section 69A of the Act by the A.O. Thus, finding no merit in the claim of the Ld. AR that the A.O had wrongly triggered the provisions of Section 69A of the Act for making the addition in the hands of the assessee, reject the same. As the assessee in the course of the assessment proceedings had not come forward with any such explanation about the nature and source of the cash deposits, therefore, the A.O was constrained to make an addition of the said amount u/s.69A of the Act. My aforesaid view is fortified by the fact that an addition under section 69A in itself pre-supposes a condition that the assessee had either failed to offer any explanation; or the explanation offered by him is not, in the opinion of the A.O found to be satisfactory. Admittedly, in the present case, as the assessee had never come forth with any explanation that the cash deposit in question was the “on money” that was received by him on sale of agriculture land, therefore, the provisions of Section 69A in my considered view were rightly triggered by the A.O. - Decided against assessee.
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