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Issues:
1. Validity of reopening assessment under section 147(a) of the Income-tax Act. 2. Treatment of amounts misappropriated by directors as business loss in computing income. 3. Establishment of loss by the assessee. Analysis: The High Court of Kerala addressed three questions referred by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. The first issue was regarding the validity of reopening the assessment under section 147(a) of the Income-tax Act. The court found that the assessee had not disclosed all material facts in the original assessment, resulting in an escape of Rs. 2.5 lakhs from taxation. The Tribunal's decision to reopen the assessment was deemed warranted and justified based on the undisclosed profit made by the company over six years. Moving on to the second issue, the court considered whether the misappropriated amounts by the directors should be treated as a business loss in computing the income of the company. The assessee argued that the diverted profit should be considered a business loss, citing a Supreme Court decision. However, the court rejected this argument, stating that the income was earned by the company and assessable in its hands, regardless of the unauthorized appropriation by one of the directors. The court concluded that no loss was incurred by the company as the income was merely appropriated by the director. Lastly, the court addressed the third issue of whether the assessee had established incurring any loss. Given the findings related to the misappropriated income and lack of evidence of loss incurred by the company, the court answered in favor of the Revenue, stating that the assessee had not demonstrated any loss. The judgment emphasized that the company's failure to disclose all material facts led to the initiation of proceedings under section 147(a) and affirmed the Tribunal's decision on the matter. In conclusion, the High Court of Kerala upheld the Tribunal's decisions on all three issues, affirming the validity of reopening the assessment, rejecting the treatment of misappropriated amounts as business loss, and ruling that the assessee had not established any loss incurred. The judgment was delivered by K. S. PARIPOORNAN J., with detailed analysis and legal reasoning provided for each issue raised in the case.
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