TMI Blog2016 (5) TMI 94X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bank account under her signature. Considering the above, it is clear that there is doubt in the version of the Revenue-Department to prove that the assessee has opened the bank account in question. Therefore, no liability can be put up on the assessee for deposits made in this bank account of ₹ 41,31,432. We, therefore, do not find any justification to sustain the orders of the authorities below in making the addition of ₹ 41,31,432. We, accordingly, set aside the orders of the authorities below and delete the addition - Decided in favour of assessee - I. T. A. No. 322/Agra/2012 - - - Dated:- 2-2-2016 - Bhavnesh Saini (Judicial Member) And Annapurna Mehrotra (Accountant Member) For the Petitioner : P. K. Sehgal For the Respondent : Waseem Arshad ORDER Bhavnesh Saini (Judicial Member) 1. This appeal by the assessee has been directed against the order of the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals)-II, Agra, dated March 29, 2012, for the assessment year 2000-01. 2. In this appeal, the assessee challenged the reopening of assessment under section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the addition of ₹ 41,31,432 made on account of une ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nnot be raised in the present proceedings. 6. The Assessing Officer during the course of the assessment proceedings noted that the assessee explained that savings bank account No. 5060 with State Bank of India, Kamla Nagar, Agra, does not belong to her. In order to verify the claim of the assessee, the matter was referred to the handwriting expert, Shri Raj Kumar Shrotiya, who, after comparing the handwriting available on summons dated December 13, 2010 (paper book page 220) with the documents acquired from the State Bank of India, Kamla Nagar, Agra, furnished a detailed report dated December 20, 2010 (paper book page 190) and reported that the signature available on the cheques were actually put by Smt. Subhra Agarwal. The report was confronted to the assessee while examining her on oath and she was asked to comment on the contents of the handwriting expert report, to which the assessee explained that the signature of Sushna does not belong to her and she has not opened or operated any bank account No. 5060 with the State Bank of India, Kamla Nagar, Agra. It was explained that she has no concern with this bank account. The assessee also engaged two experts, namely, Shri O. P. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r passed under section 263 of the Act, therefore, the Assessing Officer is bound to follow the order. The issue of reopening cannot be agitated in the present appeal because reopening was done in the original proceedings. As regards merit of the case, the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) noted that the perusal with naked eyes shows that the handwriting available on summons dated December 13, 2010, tallies with the documents collected from the State Bank of India, Kamla Nagar, Agra. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed. 10. We have heard the learned representatives of both the parties, perused the material available on record and gone through the orders of the authorities below. The Assessing Officer made an addition of ₹ 41,31,432 in the hands of the assessee because the SB Account No. 5060 with the State Bank of India, Kamla Nagar, Agra, was found to be operated by the assessee. The assessee, however, denied the maintenance of any such bank account or having operated the same. The Assessing Officer appointed handwriting expert, Shri Raj Kumar Shrotiya, who has given his report dated December 28, 2010 (paper book page 190) and has compared the handwriting avai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unt is closed on November 29, 1999. No record in the computer is also available. It was explained in his statement that this account was opened on December 7, 1998, and at that time the Branch Manager was Suresh Chand Agarwal who had already retired. No material was produced by the Branch Manager to prove that the said account was opened by the assessee, Smt. Subhra Agarwal. Copy of the statement of Suresh Chand Agarwal recorded by the Assessing Officer on December 22, 2007, under section 131 is filed at page 50 of the paper book in which he has explained the procedure for opening of a new bank account and explained in the statement that for opening the bank account, photograph of the account holder, his residential address proof and the identity like ration card, etc., shall have to be obtained and a new bank account is to be introduced by another bank account holder of the same bank and, thereafter, after verification of the documents, new bank account is opened after verifying the identity of the account holder. He has explained that SB account No. 5060 was opened in the name of Smt. Sushna and shown his inability to produce any document to prove the opening of the said bank acc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a, Kamla Nagar, Agra. Even the account opening form and the specimen signature of the assessee available with the bank have also not been brought on record. Therefore, nothing is available on record to connect the assessee with the opening of new bank account No. 5060 or operating the same under the signature of the assessee. The handwriting expert engaged by the Assessing Officer has compared the signature of the assessee with the summons dated December 13, 2010, which is highly doubtful and could not be given any credence. When two different reports of the handwriting experts were available on record, i.e., one engaged by the Assessing Officer and the two engaged by the assessee and when both gave different versions, it would have been better to refer the matter to the Government handwriting expert for examining the correctness of the matter. Despite request made by the assessee in this regard before the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), no steps have been taken to verify the handwriting of the assessee. Since the relevant documents for opening of a new bank account have not been brought on record and no comparison has been made with the same, therefore, the Assessing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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