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2020 (4) TMI 252 - ITAT NEW DELHIValidity of reopening u/s.147 - addition u/s.69A on account of gifts - HELD THAT:- Assessing Officer to establish the fact of escapement of income at the stage of issue of notice the only question which is required to be seen is, whether there was any relevant material on which a reasonable person could have formed the requisite believe and whether material would conclusively prove the escapement of income is not a concern at that stage. In this case, also not only the material coming on record before the Assessing Officer was relevant but also had live link nexus with the income escaping assessment because the donor was found to be; firstly, accommodation entry provider; and secondly, he has admitted that he has given bogus gift to various beneficiaries in lieu of cash and in the list of such beneficiary not only the assessee’s name had appeared but also the PAN and the gift also garb co-related to the relevant entries in the bank account. Thus, we hold that reasons recorded were sufficient to clothe the Assessing Officer to acquire the jurisdiction, to reopen the assessment. The ground that, Assessing Officer had not obtained the satisfaction u/s.151 before issuance of notice is also not correct because Assessing Officer has specifically stated that satisfaction was obtained from the Addl. CIT wherein he has stated that he is satisfied with the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer. Thus, this ground is also not tenable. Thus, the reopening of the assessment u/s.147 r.w.s. 148 is valid and the order of the Ld. CIT (A) on this count is upheld. Addition on account of gift - A Donor cannot have natural love and affection to hundreds of people where gifts were given without any occasion and that to be in several lakhs. Another important factor is that the donor has stated to have gifted huge amount of gifts to various persons and Assessing Officer has even noted 9 such persons also on the basis of information. Once, he has confirmed that he is actually an entry provider and admitted that he has given bogus gifts in lieu of cash, then mere filing of memorandum of gift and affidavit of the donor cannot lead to a conclusive inference that gift is genuine. Mere identification of the donor and movement of the gift through banking channels definitely cannot prove the genuineness of the gift when the credibility of the donor itself is dubious coupled with the fact that his completely a stranger then in our opinion genuineness of the gift does not stand establish. Various courts have held that in the case of the gift mere identity and payment through account payee cheque does not establishes the genuineness of the gift which has been held so by the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court in the case of Sajan Dass & Sons [2002 (11) TMI 24 - DELHI HIGH COURT ] . Accordingly, the gift of ₹ 5 lac is confirmed. - Decided against assessee. .
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