PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX vs. AMITKUMAR T PATEL

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TAXAP/186/2019HC GujaratGJHC24013480201925 June 2019Bench: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA,HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.C. RAO3 pages
AI SummaryDismissed

What did the High Court hold?

The High Court held that none of the three proposed questions constituted substantial questions of law. Regarding the addition of Rs. 8,64,267/-, the Tribunal found that the Revenue had conceded before it that the addition was made by treating deposits in the bank account of the assessee's brother, Shri Samir Kumar, as the assessee's income. The Tribunal further noted that this amount represented the maturity value of an insurance policy in the name of the assessee's brother and was deposited into his account, thus it could not be treated as unexplained income of the assessee under Section 69. The Tribunal upheld the deletion of this addition. The judgment implies that similar reasoning applied to the other deletions, as the court found no error in the Tribunal's order. The High Court found no error, let alone an error of law, in the Tribunal's impugned order. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed.

What were the facts?

This is a Tax Appeal filed by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (Revenue) against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) dated September 18, 2018, concerning Assessment Year 2011-12. The ITAT had dismissed an appeal filed by the assessee, Amitkumar T Patel. The Revenue is challenging the ITAT's deletion of three specific additions made by the Assessing Officer (AO). The disputed amounts are Rs. 2,76,97,000/-, Rs. 8,64,267/- (on account of unexplained investment under Section 69), and Rs. 1,16,579/- (on account of unaccounted bank interest). The High Court is considering whether these constitute substantial questions of law.

What were the issues?

The High Court had to decide the following substantial questions of law proposed by the Revenue: 1. Whether the Hon'ble ITAT erred in deleting the addition of Rs. 2,76,97,000/- made by the Assessing Officer? 2. Whether the Hon'ble ITAT erred in deleting the addition of Rs. 8,64,267/- made on account of unexplained investment under Section 69 of the Income Tax Act, 1961? 3. Whether the Hon'ble ITAT erred in deleting the addition of Rs. 1,16,579/- made on account of unaccounted bank interest? Assessee's Contentions: The judgment does not explicitly record the assessee's contentions. However, it notes that the ITAT observed that the Revenue conceded before it that the addition was made by treating amounts deposited in the bank account of the assessee's brother, Shri Samir Kumar, as the assessee's income. The ITAT also noted that Rs. 8,64,267/- represented the maturity value of an insurance policy in the name of the assessee's brother, which was deposited into his account. Revenue's Contentions: The Revenue argued that the ITAT erred in deleting the aforementioned additions.

Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?

Section 69,Section 260-A

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

C/TAXAP/186/2019 ORDER IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/TAX APPEAL NO. 186 of 2019 ============================================= PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Versus AMITKUMAR T PATEL ============================================= Appearance: MRS KALPANAK RAVAL(1046) for the Appellant(s) No. 1 for the Opponent(s) No. 1 ============================================= CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA and HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.C. RAO

Date : 25/06/2019

ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA) 1. This Tax Appeal under Section 260-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short “the Act, 1961”) is at the instance of the Revenue and is directed against the order passed by the Appellate Tribunal dated 18.09.2018 in ITA No. 2883/Ahd/2015/SRT for the Assessment Year 2011-12. 2. The Revenue has proposed the following as the substantial questions of law : “(A) Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Hon’ble ITAT has erred in deleting the addition of Rs.2,76,97,000/- made by the Assessing Officer? (B) Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case Page 1 of 3

C/TAXAP/186/2019 ORDER and in law, the Hon’ble ITAT has erred in deleting the addition of Rs.8,64,267/- made on account of unexplained investment u/s. 69 of the I.T. Act? (C) Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Hon’ble ITAT has erred in deleting the addition of Rs.1,16,579/- made on account of unaccounted bank interest?” 3. We take notice of the fact that the Appellate Tribunal while dismissing the appeal filed by the assessee has observed as under : “18. On careful consideration of above rival submission, we are of the view that from the assessment order and argument placed before us, we are satisfied that neither the AO nor the ld. DR has controverted the fact that the addition has been made by the AO by treating the amount deposited to the bank account owned by the assessee’s brother Shri Samir Kumar as income of the assessee. In fact, the amount os Rs.8,64,267/- was representing the maturity value of insurance policy of M/s.Baja Alliance Insurance standing in the name of appellant’s brother Shri Samir Kumar therefore, the same was deposited to the account of assessee’s brother and such amount cannot be treated as unexplained income of the assessee u/s. 69 of the Act thus, the ld. CIT(A) was right in deleting the addition. We are unable to see any reason to interfere with the same and thus, we uphold the same. Accordingly, ground No.3 of the Revenue is dismissed.” 4. Thus, the finding of fact recorded by the Appellate Page 2 of 3

C/TAXAP/186/2019 ORDER Tribunal is that the Revenue conceded before it that the addition had been made in the hands of the representative bank account holders to which the amount deposited would be made by the assessee in the capacity of mandate holders of the accounts. Whereas, another finding of fact recorded by the Appellate Tribunal is that addition had been made by the AO by treating the amount deposited to the bank account owned by the brother of the assessee namely, Shri Samir Kumar as income of the assessee. 5. Having heard Ms. Kalpana Raval, the learned senior standing counsel appearing for the Revenue and having gone through the materials on record, we are of the view that none of the three questions proposed could be termed as the substantial questions of law. In our opinion, no error not to speak of any error of law could be said to have been committed by the Tribunal in passing the impugned order. 6. In the result, this appeal fails and is hereby dismissed. (J. B. PARDIWALA, J) (A. C. RAO, J) Dolly Page 3 of 3

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