9911796707
TMI Blog2000 (3) TMI 51X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing the jurisdiction of the first respondent to reopen the assessment. The reassessment proceedings have been initiated on the ground that the petitioner underestimated the cost of construction of a commercial complex constructed during the year 1992-93 and the differential cost is attributable to unexplained income. In order to attract section 147 of the Act, the first and foremost requirement is that the Assessing Officer should have reason to believe that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year. It is not in dispute that in the present case, the proviso is attracted. If so, the further requirement on which the jurisdiction of the Income-tax Officer depends is that the escapement should have occurred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t bearing on the formation of the belief and are not extraneous or irrelevant for the purpose of the section. To this limited extent, the action of the Income-tax Officer in starting proceedings in respect of income escaping assessment is open to the challenge in a court of law." Earlier it was observed that "it is not any and every material, howsoever vague and indefinite or distant, remote and far-fetched, which would warrant the formation of the belief relating to escapement of the income of the assessee from assessment". As regards the second requirement spelt out in the proviso to section 147 of the Act, it was pointed out that the duty of the assessee does not extend beyond making a true and full disclosure of primary facts. Once he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... much more than what was disclosed by the assessee and noticed by the Income-tax Officer in the course of the assessment proceedings. It is on the basis of this valuation report, the impugned notice has been issued. A perusal of the file in which the reasons are recorded by the second respondent makes it clear that the sole basis for reopening the assessment is the estimate of construction given by the Departmental Valuer long after the search. Though a reference has been made to the search operations conducted on August 4, 1993, nothing is stated therein that any adverse or incriminating material had come to the notice of the Department as regards the construction of the shopping complex. It is merely stated by the Assistant Commissioner th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uty of disclosing the primary facts to the Assessing Officer before the assessment was made. Learned senior standing counsel for the Department has submitted that the petitioner had shown the differential cost proportionately in the declarations relating to assessment years filed under the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme and that itself would furnish a legitimate basis for reassessment. We find it difficult to accept this contention. The decision to initiate reassessment proceedings is not based on that ground. Nothing is mentioned about the declarations filed under the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme in the reasons recorded by the Assistant Commissioner. It is well settled that the court cannot go beyond the recorded reasons, nor can it take into acc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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