SAPRA METAL CO.,,DELHI vs. ITO, NEW DELHI

ORDER The Appeal filed by the Assessee emanate out of the Order dated 18.3.2016 passed by the Ld. CIT(A)-20, New Delhi relevant to assessment year 2006-07.

2. The assessee has raised so many grounds, but only argued the following legal ground no. 2 which read as under:-

“2. The Ld. CIT(A)-20 has erred in upholding the reopening of the case u/s. 148/147 of the I.T. Act. The notice u/s. 148/148 was issued merely at the behest of Investigation Wing. The AO has not made any independent enquiry. Further the reasons recorded did not indicate any independent application of mind. The principle of natural justice have been violated.”

3. Aggrieved by the order of the AO, the assessee came in appeal before the learned CIT(A), who vide impugned order dated 18.3.2016 has dismissed the appeal of the assessee and accordingly enhanced the addition from Rs. 8,57,331/- to Rs.10,33,083/-.

4. Against the order of the Ld. CIT(A), assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal.

6. On the contrary, Ld. DR relied upon the order of the authorities below and requested that the same may be upheld.

“Subsequently a letter bearing F.No. Addl.OT(HQ)/(Coord.)/ Accommodation entry/2012-13/15016 dated 26/03/2013 was received from the office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi-1, New Delhi therein forwarding letter tearing F-No. C1T(C)- II/2012-13/3898 teed.19/03/2013 received from the Commissioner of Income Tax, Central-II, New Delhi along with a CD containing the details of accommodation entries provide by Shri Rakesh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta and Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain and directing this office to take necessary action as per section 148 in respect entries pertaining to A.Y. 2006-07, which in time barring on 31/03/2013.

The information provided by the GIT, Gentral-11, New-Delhi vide his letter dated 19/03/2013 reads as under:-

"Kindly find enclosed herewith letter dated 13/03/2013 of ACIT, Central Circle-10 duly forwarded by the Addl. C1T, Central Range- IV, alongwith its enclosures on the subjection mentioned above.

2. The assessment of search and seizure cases of Sh. Rakesh Gupta, Sh. Sh. Vishvesh Gupta, Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh.Vaibhav Jain are under process with ACIT, Central Circle 10, During the assessment proeeding uls 153A in the aforesaid cases, details regarding accommodation entries given by the above entry.

3. The list of accommodation a entry recipients has been obtained from Sh. Rakesh Gupta and Sh. Vishesh Gupta. The list gives the name of the firm which has provided the accommodation entry along with the name: and address of the recipients of accommodation entry.

4.Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain has provided accommodation entry through thirty seven paper entities. The list of the firms giving accommodation entry is enclosed' as annexure-B. The list of accommodation entry recipients, has been obtained from Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain. It does not give year wise bifurcation. Hard copy of the list is enclosed as annexure-C, duly signed by Sh. Vaibhav Jain. Thus, the firms mention in the list 'B' have provided accommodation entries to the firms mentioned in list 'C.

The soft copy of the information in respect to annexure A, B - & C is. also enclosed.

The information of accommodation entry includes A.Y. 2006-07 also, which is a time barring year for taking action under section 148.

This information is forwarded to you for early dissemination to various field offices in Delhi (Soft copy also enclosed)."

On examining the list of accommodation entries provided by Sh. Rakesh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta and Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain pertaining to A.Y. 2006-07, it is noticed that the following accommodation entries have been taken by the assessee namely:-

Sl.No. Accommodation Name of party Amount of entry provided by to whom accommodation accommodation entry entry is provided 1 Shree Shyam Sapra Metal Co. Rs. 8,57,331/- Since Shri Rakesh Gupta & Vishesh Gupta and Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain during the course of assessment proceedings under section153A of I.T. Act have admitted that they have given accommodation entries to the parties whose list have been provided by them to the ACIT, Central Circle -10,New Delhi, therefore, it is fair to conclude that Naveen Jain Metal Udyog, whose name is appearing in the said list has taken accommodation entries from Shri Rakesh Gupta and Shri Vishesh Gupta and Shri Navneet Jain and Sh. Vaibhav Jain pertaining to AY 2006-07.

In view of the above, I have reasons to believe that income chargeable to tax o M/s Sapra Metal Co., amounting to Rs. 8,57,331/- for the FY 2005-06 relevant to AY 2006-07 has escaped assessment and it is a fit case for initiation of proceedings u/s. 147 of the Act.

Proposal in the prescribed form for the AY 2006-07 (FY 2005-06) is submitted herewith for kind consideration and necessary approval u/s. 151(2) of the I.T. Act, 1961 as the same is getting barred by limitation on 31.3.2013.

If approved, notice u/s. 148 of the Act may be issued.

SD/- (Veena Rastogi) ITO, Ward 39(2), New Delhi

8. After perusing the aforesaid reasons, I find that the facts and circumstances of the present case are similar to that case of Unique Metal Industries (supra) and Signatures Hotel, the legal issue of reopening in the Assessee’s Appeal is squarely covered by the Order dated 28.10.2015 of this Bench passed in the case of Unique Metal Industries vs. ITO in dated 28.10.2015 and decision of the Hon’ble High Court in the case of Signatures Hotel. The Tribunal in the case of Unique Metal has adjudicated the legal issue at page no. 9 to 23 vide para no. 7 to 13 as under:-

“7. I have perused the assessment order, order passed by the learned CIT(A) as well as the paper book. It will be relevant to refer to the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer and the approval of the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax which reads as under:-

“Reasons for the belief that the income has escaped assessment in the case of M/s Unique Metal Ind for the assessment year 2006-07

A letter bearing F.No. Addl. CIT/(Hq)/(Coord.)/Accommodation entry/2012-13/15016 dated 26.03.2013 was received from the Office of the Chief Commissioner of I. Tax, Delhi-I, New Delhi herein forwarding letter bearing F. No. CIT©-II/2012-13/3898 dated 19.3.2013 received from the Commissioner of I. Tax, Central-II, New Delhi along with a CD containing the details of accommodation entries provided by Sh. Rakesh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta and Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain and direct this office to take necessary action as per section 148 in respect of entries pertaining to A.Y. 2006-07, which is time barring on 31.03.2013.

The information provided by the CIT, Central-II, New Delhi vide his letter dated 19.03.2013 reads as under:- 6

“Kindly find enclosed herewith letter dated 13.03.2013 of ACIT, Central Circle-10 duly forwarded by the Addl. CIT, Central Range-IV, along with its enclosures on the subject mentioned above.

3. The list of accommodation entry recipients has been obtained from Sh. Rakesh Gupta and Sh. Vishesh Gupta. Hard copy of the list is enclosed as Annexure A, duly signed by Sh. Vishesh Gupta. The list gives the name of the firm which has provided the accommodation entry along with the name and address of recipients of accommodation entry.

4. Sh. Naveen Jain & Sh. Vsaibhav Jain has provided accommodation entry through thirty-seven paper entities. The list of the firms giving accommodation entry is enclosed as annexure-B. The list of accommodation entry recipients, has been obtained from Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain. It does not give year wise bifurcation. Hard copy of the lost is enclosed as annexure-C, duly signed by Sh. Vaibhav Jain. Thus, the firms mention in the list ‘B’ have provided accommodation entries to the firms mentioned in list ‘C’.

5. The soft copy of the information in respect to annexure A, B & C is also enclosed.

7. The information is forwarded to you for early dissemination to various field officers in Delhi (Soft copy also enclosed).

On examining the list of accommodation entries provided by Sh. Rakesh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta dn Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain pertaining to A.Y. 2006-07, it is noted that the following accommodation entries have been taken by the assessee namely M/s Unique Metal Industries:-

Sl. Accommodation Name of party to whom Amount of No. entry provided by accommodation entry is Accommodation provided entry 1 Shree Shyam M/s Unique Metal Industries Rs.2,44,399/- Trading Co. 2 Vishnu Trading Co. M/s Unique Metal Industries Rs.8,12,542/- 3 Shree BankeyBihari M/s Unique Metal Industries Rs.3,28,368/-

Total amount of entries= Rs.13,85,309/- Since Sh. Rakeh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta dn Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain during the course of assessment proceedings u/s 153A of I. Tax Act have admitted that they have given accommodation entries to the parties whose lists have been provided by them to the ACIT, Central Circle-10, New Delhi, therefore, it is fair to conclude that M/s Unique Metal Industries whose name is appearing in the said list, has taken accommodation entries from Sh. Rakeh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta dn Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain pertaining to A.Y. 2006-07.

In view of the above, I have reasons to believe that income chargeable to tax of M/s Unique Metal Industries amounting to Rs.13,85,309/-for the F.Y. 2005-06 relevant to A.Y. 2006-07 has escaped assessment and it is a fit case for initiation of proceedings u/s 147 of the Act.

Proposal in the prescribed form for the A.Y. 2006-07 (F.Y. 2005-06) is submitted herewith for kind consideration and necessary approval u/s 2006-07 (F.Y. 2005-06) is submitted herewith for kind consideration and necessary approval u/s 151(2) of the I. Tax Act, 1961 as the same is getting barred by limitation on 31/3/2013.

If approved, notice u/s 148 of the act may be issued.

Sd/- 28.3.2013 (PawankumarVashist) Income Tax Officer Ward-39(3), New Delhi Joint CIT, Range-39, N.Delhi For the reasons recorded by the Ao, ITO Ward – 39(3), it is a fit case for issue of notice u/s 148 of the I.T. Sct, 1961. Accordingly necessary approval for reopening the above case for A.Y. 2006-07 is hereby given s per the provision of section 151(2) of I.T. Act, 1961.

ITO, Ward 39(3)

Sd/- 28.3.2013 (Vijay BabuVasanta) Jt. Commission of Income Tax Range-39, New Delhi”

Rakesh Gupta and Sh. Vishesh Gupta as well as Sh. Navneet Jain and Sh. Vaibhav Jain. Copy of this list was forwarded in a CD to the Assessing Officer. Thus this list contained the name of the assessee. The Assessing Officer reopened the assessment on the basis of this information. The basis given by the Assessing Officer in the reasons is that these persons have admitted that they have given accommodation entries to the parties whose lists have been provided by them. From the above facts it is apparent that the Assessing Officer at that point of time when he recorded the reasons was not having the copy of the statement or any other material in which these people have alleged to have provided accommodation entries to the assessee. This position gets also corroborated from the facts stated by the Assessing Officer himself in the reassessment order in para 3 page 5 which read as under:-

“Here it is pertinent to mention that in the intervening period, this office had conversations with the ACIT, Central Circle-10, New Delhi from whom vide this office’s letter dated 23.07.2013, 02.09.2013, 14.10.2013, 06.11.2013, 22.11.2013, 09.12.2013 & 24.12.2013 and vide Joint CIT, Range-39, New Delhi’s letter dated 16.12.2013, the following details/documents were sought:- i) Copies of the statements recorded of Sh. Rakeh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta dn Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain in search/post search/assessment proceedings. ii) Soft copies of the tatements recorded of Sh. Rakeh Gupta & Sh. Vishesh Gupta dn Sh. Navneet Jain & Sh. Vaibhav Jain in search/post search/assessment proceedings.\ iii) Hard copy of assessment orders passed in these cases for A.Y. 2006-7 iv) Soft copy of assessment orders passed in these cases for A.Y. 2006-07 v) Any other detail/document you may deem fit that need to be confronted with the parties whose cases have been reopened u/s 148 of I. Tax Act.

9. The above facts stated by the Assessing Officer makes it abundantly clear that at the time of formation of the belief to reopen assessment the Assessing Officer was not having the above said information. Only that he was having the letter along with list which was forwarded by the CIT, Central-2, New Delhi.

10. The above observation of the Assessing Officer also shows that it was letter dated 20.12.2013 received by him on 27.12.2013 on the basis of which the Assessing Officer could make a view that the purchase bills provided by these persons or their family members is nothing but bogus purchase bills. At the time of 11 recording of the reasons the Assessing Officer apparently was not having any idea about the nature of the transactions entered into by the assessee. In the reasons recorded there is no mention about the nature of the transactions. As per provision of section 147 an assessment can be reopened if the Assessing Officer has reasons to believe that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment.

The reasons to believe has to be that of the Assessing Officer and further there have to be application of mind by the Assessing Officer though the reasons to believe does not mean that the Assessing Officer should have finally ascertained the fact that income has escaped assessment but at the same time, it also means that the Assessing Officer is required to examine the facts on the basis of the information and satisfy himself that the taxable income has escaped assessment. In the present case, on going through the reasons it is quite evident that the Assessing Officer was also not aware of the nature of the accommodation entries. In the reasons recorded he has simply mentioned the name of the party and the amount and nowhere has stated the nature of such entry. This also shows that the Assessing Officer has made no effort to look into the return of the assessee which was available with him. This fact gets further supported from the sheet appended to the reasons and quoted on page 4 of the assessment order whereby against Item no. 7, whether the assessment is proposed to be made for the first time, the Assessing Officer has stated ‘Yes’, and in Column no. 7(a), whether any voluntary return had already been filed and in Column 12 no. 8 (b), date of filing the said return ‘NA’ has been stated. Thus this is a clear case of non-application of mind by the Assessing Officer. It may also be relevant that on page 2 of the assessment order, the Assessing Officer himself has stated that in this case the return of income for the year under consideration was filed with this ward on 27.09.2006. These facts clearly demonstrate that the return was with the same ward and at the time of recording of the reasons for reopening the assessment, the Assessing Officer has not looked at the return and in a mechanical way, on receipt of the letter from the CIT, Central-2, New Delhi the assessment has been reopened. It is a settled position of law that there must be material for formation of a belief that income has escaped assessment. Further reasons referred to must disclose process of reasoning by which the Assessing Officer holds reason to believe.

There must be nexus between such material and belief. Further and most importantly the reasons referred to must show application of mind by the Assessing Officer. It is also a settled law that the validity of the initiation of the reassessment proceeding is to be judged with reference to the material available with the Assessing Officer at the point of time of the issue of notice under section 148.

In the present case, as is evident from the assessment order, the Assessing Officer was having nothing except the list provided by the CIT, Central-2, New Delhi about the list of accommodation entries.

Beyond that he was not having the copies of the statement of any of these persons. He was not having copy of the assessment orders 13 and other details or document which would have enabled the Assessing Officer to apply his mind and form a belief that income has escaped assessment. In fact this information was not with the Assessing Officer till fag end of the reassessment proceedings, a fact admitted by the Assessing Officer himself in the assessment order. The judgment relied upon by the learned AR also supports the case of the assessee. In the case of Sarthak Securities Pvt. Ltd. vs. ITO (2009) 329 ITR 110 the Hon’ble jurisdictional Delhi High Court has held that under the circumstances narrated hereinabove the reopening cannot be said to be a valid reopening. The Hon’ble Court has held as under:-

“In the case at hand, as is evincible, the AO was aware of the existence of four companies with whom the assessee had entered into transaction. Both the orders clearly exposit that the AO was made aware of the situation by the Investigation Wing and there is no mention that these companies are fictitious companies. Neither the reasons in the initial notice nor the communication providing reasons remotely indicate independent application of mind. True it is, at that stage, it is not necessary to have the established fact of escapement of income but what is necessary is that there is relevant material on which a reasonable person could have formed the requisite belief. To elaborate, the conclusive proof is not germane at this stage but the formation of belief must be on the base or foundation or platform of prudence which a reasonable person is required to apply. As is manifest from the perusal of the supply of reasons and the order of rejection of objections, the names of the companies were available with the authority. Their 14 existence is not disputed. What is mentioned is that these companies were used as conduits. The same has not been referred to while passing the order of rejection. The assessee in his objections had clearly stated that the companies had bank accounts and payments were made to the assessee company through banking channel. The identity of the companies was not disputed. Under these circumstances, it would not be appropriate to require the assessee to go through the entire gamut of proceedings. It is totally unwarranted. Resultantly, the initiation of proceedings under s. 147 and issuance of notice under s. 148 are hereby quashed.”

“The first sentence of the reasons states that information had been received from Director of IT (Inv.) that the petitioner had introduced money amounting to Rs. 5 lacs during financial year 2002-03 as per the details given in Annexure. The said Annexure relates to a cheque received by the petitioner on 9th Oct., 2002 from SS Ltd. from the bank and the account number mentioned therein. The last sentence records that as per the information, the amount received was nothing but an accommodation entry and the assessee was the beneficiary. The aforesaid reasons do not satisfy the requirements of s.

Annexure. Annexure cannot be regarded as a material or evidence that prima facie shows or establishes nexus or link which discloses escapement of income. Annexure is not a pointer and does not indicate escapement of income. Further, it is apparent that the AO did not apply his own mind to the information and examine the basis and material of the information. The AO accepted the plea on the basis of vague information in a mechanical manner. The CIT also acted on the same basis by mechanically giving his approval. The reasons recorded reflect that the AO did not independently apply his mind to the information received from the Director of IT (Inv.) and arrive at a belief whether or not any income had escaped assessment. Company SS Ltd. had applied for and was allotted shares in the petitioner company on payment by cheque of Rs. 5 lacs. SS Ltd. is an incorporated company and the petitioner has pleaded and stated that the said company has a paid-up capital of Rs. 90 lacs. The company was incorporated on 4th Jan., 1989 and was also allotted PAN in September, 2001. The facts indicated above do not show that SS Ltd. is a non-existing and a fictitious entity/person. For the reasons stated above, writ of certiorari is issued quashing the proceedings under s. 148”

The first sentence of the so-called reasons recorded by the AO is mere information received from the Dy. Director of IT (Inv.). The second sentence is a direction given by the very same Dy. Director to issue a notice under s. 148 and the third sentence again comprises of a direction given by the Addl. CIT to initiate proceedings under s. 148 in respect of cases pertaining to the relevant ward. These three sentence are followed by the following sentence, which is the concluding portion of the so-called reasons :

Thus, I have sufficient information in my possession to issue notice under s. 148 in the case of M/s SFIL Stock Broking Ltd. on the basis of reasons recorded as above." From the above, it is clear that the AO referred to the information and the two directions as 'reasons' on the basis of which he was proceeding to issue notice under s.

and examination of the facts and accordingly the reopening is held to be invalid and accordingly the same is quashed.

Accordingly the reopening is held to be bad in law and ground nos.2 and 3 are allowed.” 17 8.1 I also find that the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in the case of Signature Hotels (P)_ Ltd. vs. ITO and another reported in 338 ITR 51 (Del) has under similar circumstances has held as follows:-

“For the A.Y. 2003-04, the return of income of the assessee company was accepted u/s.143(1) of the Income- tax Act, 1961 and was not selected for scrutiny.

Subsequently, the Assessing Officer issued notice u/s.148 which was objected by the assessee. The Assessing Officer rejected the objections. The assessee company filed writ petition and challenged the notice and the order on objections.

The Delhi High Court allowed the writ petition and held as under:

“(i) Section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, is wide but not plenary. The Assessing Officer must have ‘reason to believe’ that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. This is mandatory and the ‘reason to believe’ are required to be recorded in writing by the Assessing Officer.

(ii) A notice u/s.148 can be quashed if the ‘belief’ is not bona fide, or one based on vague, irrelevant and non-specific information. The basis of the belief should be discernible from the material on record, which was available with the Assessing

Officer, when he recorded the reasons. There should be a link between the reasons and the evidence/material available with the Assessing Officer.

(iii) The reassessment proceedings were initiated on the basis of information received from the Director of Income-tax

(Investigation) that the petitioner had introduced money amounting to Rs.5 lakhs during F.Y. 2002-03 as stated in the annexure. According to the information, the amount received from a company, S, was nothing but an accommodation entry and the assessee was the beneficiary. The reasons did not satisfy the requirements of section 147 of the Act. There was no reference to any document or statement, except the annexure. The annexure could not be regarded as a material or evidence that prima facie showed or established nexus or link which disclosed escapement of income. The annexure was not a pointer and did not indicate escapement of income.

(iv) Further, the Assessing Officer did not apply his own mind to the information and examine the basis and material of the information. There was no dispute that the company, S, had a paid up capital of Rs.90 lakhs and was incorporated on January 4, 1989, and was also allotted a permanent account number in September 2001. Thus, it could not be held to be a fictitious person. The reassessment proceedings were not valid and were liable to the quashed.”

Order pronounced in the Open Court on 09.03.2017.