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TMI Blog2013 (11) TMI 75X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onvenience, they were heard together, considered and disposed off in this common order. 4. Briefly, the issue was that the appellant company's ['the appellant' in short] nature of business being manufacturing and trading in Indian Made Foreign Liquor [IMFL]. There was an action u/s 132 of the Act in the case of M/s. Radico Khaitan Limited group of cases and the residential premises of one Shri R.K.Miglani, Secretary General of Uttar Pradesh Distilleries Association [UPDA] on 14.2.2006 and during the course of operation, some incriminating documents were unearthed which, according to the Revenue, revealed that illegal payments were made by various distilleries to various agencies and the UPDA acted as nodal agency for making the illegal payments which was confirmed by Shri Miglani in his statement under oath; that certain incriminating documents impounded from the premises of UPDA also revealed that the appellant [Central Distilleries & Breweries Ltd] as one of the members of UPDA had made certain illegal payments. By invoking the provisions of s.153C of the Act, the assessments for the AYS under challenge have been concluded u/s 144 r.w. sections 153A and 153C of the Act. 5. Aggr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the Ld. CIT (A) had failed to distinguish the finding of the earlier Bench cited supra in a better perspective and, therefore, pleaded that the impugned order of the CIT(A) requires to be annulled and that of the AO be sustained. 7. On the other hand, the Ld. A R was argued that the documents made available for inspection were the copies of the seized material concerning to Shri Miglani. It was, further, argued that no books of accounts or any documents/asset(s) belonging to the appellant was seized in the course of search undertaken in the premises of Shri Miglani and that no seized material was handed over to the assessing officer of the assessee company. It was, therefore, contended that the assessing officer had no jurisdiction or any material whatsoever to invoke the provisions of s.153C of the Act. Strongly placing reliance on the ruling of the Hon'ble Gujarat High Court and also the finding of the earlier Bench cited supra, it was argued that the assessments concluded u/s 153A r.w.s 153C of the Act were bad in law. It was the case of the Ld. A R that the language used in s.153C of the Act is materially different from the language used u/s 158BD of the Act. As per s. 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... actions in respect of undisclosed income of other person has to be handed over to the AO having the jurisdiction over the other person whereas in the case of s.153C, the books of accounts or documents belongs to the persons searched even contain the entries or transaction which represent the undisclosed income of other person cannot be handed over to the AO of the other person, only the books of accounts or documents or assets belongs to other person has to be handed over to the AO of the other person who has to proceed u/s 153C of the Act after receiving such books of accounts and documents. It was, further, submitted that on verification of seized documents, in the present case, it would be clear that none of the documents showed all the alleged transactions in respect of the appellant as the documents contained the transactions relating to the members of UPDA which included the appellant. It was submitted that the document seized did not indicate any limited interest of the ownership of the appellant in such books of accounts or documents. It was, further, submitted that the Xerox copies of those documents were made available to the AOs who were having the jurisdiction over vari ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... O was justified in his stand in issuing a notice u/s 153A r.w.s 153C of the Act. To find an answer, we shall have a glance at section 153C of the Act which reads as under: "153C (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 139, section 147, section 148, section 149, section 151 and section 153, where the assessing officer is satisfied that any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account or documents seized or requisitioned belongs or belong to a person other than the person referred to in section 153A, then the books of account or documents or assets seized or requisitioned shall be handed over to the assessing officer having jurisdiction over such other person and that assessing officer shall proceed against each such other person and issue such other person notice and assess or reassess income of such other person in accordance with the provisions of section 153A" 8.1.2. On a simple reading of s.153C of the Act, it is crystal clear that 'where the assessing officer is satisfied that any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account or documents seized or requisitioned belongs or belong to a person othe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xpression belonging to the assessee connotes both the complete ownership and limited ownership or interest, of course belonging to is capable connoting interest which is less than absolute perfect legal title. However, there should be some limited ownership of interest, if it is to be permitted that the assets belongs to the assessee. In the instant case, documents or books of account found during the course of search and seized cannot be termed to be indicating any limited interest of the ownership of the assessee in such books of account or documents. The language used in section 153C is materially different from the language used under section 158BD. As per section 158BD, if any undisclosed income relates to other person, then action against such other person can be taken provided such undisclosed income is referable to the document seized during the course of search. However, section 153C says that if valuable or books of account or documents belonging to other persons are seized then action under section 153C can be taken against that person. In the instant case, we are satisfied that books of account or documents do not belong to the assessee and, therefore, the AO was not ju ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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