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TMI Blog1992 (2) TMI 13X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the assessment years 1949-50 and 1950-51 were completed on March 31, 1954, on the basis of a settlement reached between the assessee and the Department covering the assessment years 1944-45 to 1952-53. The settlement was arrived at on an appreciation of the overall picture of the accretion to the assessee's wealth between 1943 and 1952. Certain fixed deposits made in the name of Smt. Ram Moorti Devi, the wife of the karta of the assessee's family, and in the names of the two daughters of the assessee as well as in the name of Smt. Premwati, the wife of an employee, were also taken into account as part of the assessee's wealth. These deposits were accepted by the assessing authority as having been made out of certain " on money received by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned. On August 4, 1962, Sri Banarsi Dass Gupta made a statement in the course of assessment proceedings relating to the assessment of his brother, Sri Sheo Prasad Gupta, in which he stated that the sum of Rs. 16,00,000 including the "on money" of Rs. 7,75,000 had been received by him at the time of the signing of the agreement entered into between the two brothers on July 14, 1948. The Income-tax Officer found this statement to be of some significance when contrasted with the earlier statement made by Sri Banarsi Dass Gupta on April 29, 1954, at the time of the original assessment in which he said that the sum of Rs. 16,00,000 including the "on money" of Rs. 7,75,000 had been received by him in June/July, 1948. The discrepancy between two s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essary for the assessment for the assessment year 1949-50. After reopening the assessment and hearing the assessee, the Income-tax Officer concluded that the assessee had received no "on money" at all from Sri Sheo Prasad and that the true nature and source of the fixed deposit made by the assessee in the name of his wife had remained unexplained. He, therefore, completed the reassessment by adding the sum of Rs. 5,25,000 in the reassessment for 1949-50. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the assessee appealed to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner allowed the appeal and came to the conclusion that the Income-tax Officer had no jurisdiction to reopen the assessment. He pointed out that the question wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... had been the subject-matter of discussion at the time of the original assessment, there was nothing new that could be gathered in the course of the reassessment proceedings to justify the conclusion. The third Member to whom the appeal was referred was, however, of the view that the question for consideration in the appeal was a limited one, namely, whether the initiation of the proceedings under section 147(a) by the Income-tax Officer was justified or not. The learned Member emphasised that the question whether the statement made by Sri Banarsi Dass Gupta in 1962 was correct or not and whether the reassessment made by the Income-tax Officer by adding Rs. 5,25,000 was justified on merits or not had yet to be gone into. He further observed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of the assessee earlier on July 3, 1948. In other words, the fact that the deposit of Rs. 5,25,000 has been made on July 3, 1948, became inconsistent with the version of Sri Banarsi Dass Gupta that the sum of Rs. 16 lakhs had been received by him on July 14, 1948. There was, therefore, ground to hold that the assessee had failed or omitted to disclose fully and truly the material facts necessary for the assessment. The third Member was clearly right. As mentioned earlier, the question before us is a limited one, namely, whether the Income-tax Officer could legitimately have reasons to believe that the assessee had failed or omitted to disclose fully and truly all the material facts necessary for the assessment year 1949-50. From that poi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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