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TMI Blog2017 (7) TMI 607X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ument regarding the agricultural income on account of Paddy and Wheat amounting to Rs. 5,21,222/- and accepted the same. As regards, agricultural income amounting to Rs, 18,00,000/- on account of sale of 1631 Safeda Trees, the AO asked the assessee to furnish copies of Jamabandi and Girdawari. The assessee furnished the requisite document. The AO noted that it was not mentioned in the Girdawari that Safeda Trees were ever planted by the assessee at the land owned by him. The AO pointed out these facts to the assessee and asked the appellant to give Khasra wise details of cultivation of crops. The assessee failed to furnish this information but claimed that Safeda Trees had been planted on the boundary of the land. The assessee contended that trees planted on the boundary are not recorded in the Girdawari. The assessee contended that Safeda Trees were planted at a distance of six feet from each other on the boundary of land marked as Khasra No. 51, 20 & 11. In the land marked at Khasra No. 20 & 11 Safeda Trees were claimed to have been planted in a Single row whereas in Khasra No. 51, trees were claimed to have been planted in double raw. 3. The AO considered the assessee's submiss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ltural Income out of which Rs. 18,00,000.00 has been added back on account of sale of safeda trees in the taxable Income of Assessee as Income from other sources. The Assessee has no other business or profession other than Agriculturist Learned A. O's observation vide order dated 31.12.2014 at Page 4 is as under:- "The assessee has claimed to have planted the Safeda trees on land khasra No. 51 in the double row, then the inner line of trees must have fallen within the field itself and therefore, these trees would must have been recorded in the Girdawari. It is because the trees falling within outer line would have not been planted, exactly at the boundary (in inches) and must have been inside from the boundary. Further, if trees of inner line are planted at the distances of six feets, the inner line of trees clearly falls with in the field, which should have been recorded in the Girdawari. Therefore the assessee's submissions are not considered to be true and correct and it is only an after thought that Safeda trees were actually planted on boundary of the land, which are not recorded by the Land Revenue Authorities in the Girdawari". In this regard Assessee's ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ble Line B Circumference as claimed by assessee C=A+B Area of field One side of field Circumference 51 2540fts 1480ft (60%) 4020fts 6.67 acre (290550 sq feet 540ft 2160ft 20 3780fts 620ft 4400fts. 7.30 acre (318000 sq feet 564ft 2256ft 11 1520fts 0 1520fts. 2.53 acre (110210 sq feet) 332ft 1328ft Total 7840ft. 2100ft 9940ft. 16.5 Acre 1436ft 5744 ft Note: In the above table while calculating the Area of on Acre, Learned A. O. has taken Length of outer Boundary as 198 fts and Breadth as 220 fts which comes to:- 198ft *220ft=43560 sq feets per Acre. For 6.67 Acres:- 43 560*6.67Acres- 290550 sq feets This Area has been then used to calculate One side of field in feets by Square rooting, thus presuming the field as square which is wrong and results of which are misleading. One Acre's circumference on the basis of above table:- One side of circumference Total 16.5 Acres Total Acres One side of one Acre Total per Acre 1436 16.5 1436/16.5=87 fts 87*4=348 fts. In View of the above, Learned A. O. 's calculations are not only wrong but the result derived out of it are misleading. Learned A.O's Observations vide Page 5 of o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd as per Normal practice of plantation. 2. That the circumference of Khasra No. 51,20,11 could not be 9940fts, which is wrong and based on illogical arithmetical calculations and against the facts of the case. In view of the above, it is requested to kindly delete the addition which is wrong, unjustified and against the facts of the case. " 5. The ld. CIT(Appeals), however, dismissed the appeal of the assessee. His findings in para 3.6 and 4 are reproduced as under : "3.6 I have carefully considered the appellant's submissions. It is evident from the facts recorded in the assessment order as also from the submissions of the appellant that there is no documentary evidence of plantation of Safeda Trees by the appellant on the boundary of the agricultural land. The Girdawari filed by the appellant does not show any Safeda Tree having been grown. In these circumstances the appellant's claim is based on circumstantial evidence. In this regard, the appellant has failed to satisfactorily explain through circumstantial evidence also that he had earned agricultural income of Rs. 18 lakhs on account of sale of Safeda Trees. The AO has clearly pointed out that as claimed by th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have also not been disputed by the authorities below. Explanation of the assessee regarding plantation of Safeda Trees at the distance of 6 feet in double row and circumference explained before the authorities below, have also not been disputed and rebutted by the authorities below. The confirmation of sale of Safeda Trees are filed at page 30 to 37 of the Paper Book. Merely because the purchasers of the safeda trees did not appear before authorities below after considerable lapse, is no ground to reject contention of the assessee. The assessee also filed affidavit of Numbardar of the village Shri Ram Prashad and affidavits of neighbourers Shri Yashpal Singh, Shri Bachittar Singh and Shri Akhilesh Kumar before the ld. CIT(Appeals), copies of which are filed in the Paper Book at pages 40 to 43 of the Paper Book on which no inquiry have been held. The findings of the Assessing Officer are merely based on assumption without any basis. Since assessee has only agriculture income and there is no material on record to show any vested interest or motive with the assessee to declare agriculture income higher than the actual amount, therefore, addition is wholly unjustified. In support of h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ered that safeda trees planted in double row would make that inner line tree must have fallen within the field, therefore, such facts should be recorded in the girdawari. There was no basis or justification for the Assessing Officer to record such a finding. It is merely presumption of the Assessing Officer that trees would be falling in the agriculture field. If Assessing Officer, had any doubt about explanation of the assessee, he could have verify this fact from the revenue Deptt. or could make inquiries from the concerned revenue officers, but Assessing Officer did not do so. The Assessing Officer also rejected the claim of the assessee because the persons who have purchased the safeda trees, have not been produced. The assessee, however, filed confirmation of the sale of safeda trees and written agreement with the purchasers, and if at a later stage, the purchaser did not appear before the Assessing Officer, no adverse inference could be drawn against the assessee. The assessee filed affidavit of Shri Ram Prashad, Numbardar of the village who has also confirmed that assessee has sown safeda trees on the boundary of about 18 acres of land and out of which, some of the area was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de order dated August 21, 2007. While allowing the appeal, the Tribunal held that the assessee, who is an agriculturist, has produced evidence on record, in support of his claim and the income declared by him on estimate basis is bona fide. The findings of the Tribunal in this regard are reproduced : " I have considered the rival submissions carefully. Firstly, it is abundantly clear from the record that the assessee has declared agricultural income in the past also. The factum of the assessee being engaged in the activity yielding agricultural income in the past as well as during the year under consideration is not in dispute. The dispute essentially revolves around the quantum of agricultural income declared for the reason that the assessee does not maintain any regular books of account in this regard. The assessee claimed to have estimated his agricultural income by reducing from the gross sale realisation the expenses to the extent of 25 per cent. This manner of declaring agricultural income itself shows that it has been declared on estimate basis. Now, the issue is as to whether the estimate made by the assessee can be construed as reasonable considering the claim of agricu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the assessee has declared agricultural income of Rs. 7,00,000. No doubt, the income for the assessment year 2002-03 has not been subjected to scrutiny assessment yet the trend of income declared cannot be lost sight of while considering the efficacy of income declared by the assessee. Moreover, there is no material on record to show any vested interest or motive with the assessee to declare agriculture income higher than the actual amount. This is for the reason that the copies of the bank account do not show any investment made by the assessee. In fact, the assessee has supported his plea by filing an affidavit to the effect that the income earned during the assessment year under consideration was spent on agriculture inputs or household expenses. Thus, the estimate declared by the assessee can be construed as bona fide. Therefore, I am inclined to uphold the stand of the assessee." Ms. Urvashi Dhugga, learned counsel for the Revenue, has argued that the agricultural income declared by the assessee was on an estimate basis and the same was on the higher side considering the yield available from the land in question and, therefore, the findings of the Tribunal are perverse an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... support of the sowing of the safeda trees by the assessee. Therefore, there was no basis to reject explanation of the assessee in this regard. In the case of Shri Jarnail Singh (Karta) (supra), the certificate of the Patwari was relied upon, therefore, the documentary evidences of the revenue officers in case of assessee, as noted above when produced before authorities below, should not have been ignored. Further, it is a fact that assessee has merely small interest income on savings. The assessee has no other income except agriculture income. Therefore, there is no material on record to show any vested interest or motive with the assessee to declare agriculture income higher than the actual amount. The authorities below have made and confirmed the addition of Rs. 18 lcs on account of 'income from other sources' under section 68/69 of the Act but authorities below have failed to point out as to what income is earned by assessee from "other sources" because assessee has no other source of income except the agriculture income. The interest is from specified source and ascertained. Therefore, in the absence of any material on record that what is the 'other income' of the asses ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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