TMI Blog2014 (6) TMI 13X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... machinery provided by the legislature should not be used and the benefit thereof should be refused - Even in a case where no such prayer is made by the learned advocate representing the assessee, who may not have been properly instructed in law, the AO, discharging a quasi-judicial function, has the bounden duty to act fairly and to give a fair treatment by giving him an option to follow the course provided by law – thus, the order is set aside and the matter is remitted back to the AO for fresh adjudication – Decided in favour of Assessee. - GA No. 3686 of 2013, ITAT No. 221 of 2013 - - - Dated:- 13-3-2014 - Girish Chandra Gupta And Debangsu Gupta,JJ. For the Appellant : Mr. J. P. Khaitan, Mr. Sanjoy Bhowmick For the Responde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land was, however, assessed by the District Sub Registrar at a sum of Rs.35 lakhs, which was duly paid. The assessing officer, in the circumstances, adopted the valuation made by the District Sub Registrar and computed the long term capital gain on that basis. The CIT(A) upheld the order of the assessing officer. An appeal preferred by the assessee was dismissed by the learned Tribunal for the following reasons: We have considered the rival submissions. A perusal of the grounds of appeal as raised by the assessee clearly shows that the assessee has not pointed out any reason for reference to the D.V.O. in respect of the provisions of section 50C of the Act. Admittedly, the valuation of the property by the stamp valuation authority at Rs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and is transferred in the manner as appearing hereinafter. Mr. Khaitan submitted that the case of the assessee has always been that the price offered by the purchaser was the highest prevailing price in the market. The valuation made by the District Sub Registrar for the purpose of stamp duty, therefore, was not the prevailing price of the land in question. He added that the highest prevailing price in the market obviously is also the fair market value of the property. The expression fair market value cannot have any other significance than the price, which can fairly be expected to be had upon sale of the property. He, therefore, contended that the case of the assessee always was that the valuation made by the District Sub Registrar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 50C are also not met by the assessee. Therefore, the question of reference to a valuation officer in any event does not arise. We have considered the rival submissions advanced by the learned advocates appearing for the parties. The submission of Ms. Ghutghutia that the requirement of clauses a) and (b) of sub-Section 2 of Section 50C has not been met by the assessee, can hardly be accepted. The requirement of clause (b) of sub-Section 2 of Section 50C was evidently met. The only question is whether the requirement of clause (a) of sub-Section 2 of Section 50C was met by the assessee. We have already set out hereinabove the recital appearing in the Deeds of Conveyance upon which the assessee was relying. Presumably, the case o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e fixed merely on the basis of the valuation to be made by the District Sub Registrar for the purpose of stamp duty. The legislature has taken care to provide adequate machinery to give a fair treatment to the citizen/taxpayer. There is no reason why the machinery provided by the legislature should not be used and the benefit thereof should be refused. Even in a case where no such prayer is made by the learned advocate representing the assessee, who may not have been properly instructed in law, the assessing officer, discharging a quasi judicial function, has the bounden duty to act fairly and to give a fair treatment by giving him an option to follow the course provided by law. For the aforesaid reasons, the order under challenge is set ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
