SMT. MONALISA DAS,SAMBALPUR vs. D.C.I.T, CENTRAL CIRCLE, SAMBALPUR

It was the submission by the ld. AR that the assessee is an individual, who is wife of Shri Braja Kishore Das. It was the submission that a search and seizure operation was conducted on M/s BKD Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., Sambalpur on 03.02.2017. In the course of search, jewellery having value of Rs.38,75,026/- was found in locker No.72 maintained with Allahabad Bank, Sambalpur, which was in the joint name of assessee and Shri Braja Kishore Das. Shri Braja Kishore Das had disclosed an investment in jewellery in the course of search in the Smt. Monalisa Das. It was the submission that subsequently, Monalisa Engicon, a partnership firm in which Shri Braja Kishore Das (HUF) and Smt. Monalisa Das had filed an application u/s.245 of the Act on 29.11.2018. It was the submission that the Settlement Commission, Kolkata admitted the said application and passed a final order on 24.09.2019, wherein in para 6.2, the Commission has held as follows :- 6.2 Unaccounted investment in land & jewellery “In this case, the amount of undisclosed investment in land (Rs.45 Lakh) and jewellery (Rs.38 Lakh) and treatment thereof in the cash flow statement in the outflow side having been accepted by the Department in the Rule- Report of the PCIT, Vizag, no further discussion in this respect is considered necessary. The relevant pages in the Rule-9 Report of the PCIT are 28 (paragraph 3.B) and 31 (paragraph 3.D) respectively.

It was the submission that the AO when passing the assessment order had recognized that the issue was of the jewellery valued at Rs.38,75,026/- was before the Settlement Commission but on the ground that only an order u/s.245D(4) of the Act had been passed and made addition in the hands of the assessee. Ld. AR drew our attention to page 3 of the assessment order, wherein in the last paragraph, the AO has held as follows :- “An amount of Rs.38,75,026/- was offered for taxation under the head undisclosed investment in jewelry in the hands of the assessee Smt. Monalisa Das in the disclosure statement filed on 5.2.2017 by the key person Sri Braja Kishore Das, which was seized from locker No.72 maintained with Allahabad Bank, Sambalpur which was jointly in the name of the assessee and in the name of Sri Braja Kishore Das. Now same investment has been shown as application of fund/outflow of fund in the hands of Sri Braja Kishore Das in the application made u/s.245C dated 29,.11.2018 which has been admitted to be proceeded with vide order u/s.245D(1) dated 5.12.2018. But it is seen that though the application filed before the Hon’ble Settlement Commission has been admitted so far no final has been passed u/s.245D(4) of I.T.Act, 1961. In view of this, the undisclosed investment in jewellery of Rs.38,75,026/- is added though shown in the hands of Sri Braja Kishore Das as application of fund in the hands of the assessee for A.Y. 2017-18 by invoking provisions of section 69 of I.T.Act, 1961.”

It was the submission that the assessment order was passed on 27.12.2018 on which date admittedly the final order of the Settlement Commission was not available. The said value of the jewellery had been disclosed before the Settlement Commission and the same has also been accepted by the Settlement Commission. It was further submitted that on appeal, the ld. CIT(A) did not consider the submission of the assessee though the assessee very much brought to the attention of the ld. CIT(A). It was the prayer that the addition as made by the AO and as confirmed by the ld. CIT(A) is liable to be deleted.

In reply, ld. Sr. DR vehemently supported the orders of the ld. AO and ld. CIT(A).

We have considered the rival submissions. A perusal of the assessment order as extracted above, clearly shows that the ld. AO had recognized that the amount of Rs.38,75,026/- representing the value of the jewellery found and seized from the locker No.72 maintained with Allahabad Bank, Sambalpur in the joint name of the assessee and Shri Braja Kishore Das, has been offered by showing the same as application of money/outflow of fund in the application made u/s.245C of the Act before the Income Tax Settlement Commission in the hands of Shri Braja Kishore Das. A perusal of the order of the Settlement Commission at para 6.2 shows that the same has also been accepted by the department