9911796707
TMI Blog1973 (2) TMI 28X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... two questions have been referred to this court under section 66(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act of 1922: "(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, penalty under section 28(1)(c) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, has been Tightly levied ? (2) If the above question is answered against the assessee whether the quantum of penalty levied is justifiable ?" The assessee is a firm carrying on business in grocery such as sugar, rice, etc., both in wholesale and in retail. For the assessment year 1959-60, relevant to the previous year ending March 31, 1959, the assessee disclosed in its return a turnover of Rs. 3,48,088 and an income of Rs. 52,894 showing a gross profit of 5.1 per cent. Before the Income-tax Officer com ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s Tax Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal also upheld the said addition of Rs. 92,000 on the ground that it represented the suppressed turnover of the assessee. The Income-tax Officer, at the time of the assessment, had before him the findings rendered by the sales tax authorities including the Sales Tax Tribunal in relation to the sales tax assessments. Therefore, the Income-tax Officer required the assessee to produce the said pocket note book which was the basis for making an addition in relation to the sales tax assessment, with a view to find out whether the income-tax return submitted by the assessee is correct and complete. After going through the pocket book and the other materials produced by the assessee, he found that there was no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e assessee had suppressed the turnover of Rs. 92,000 and this turnover could not have been detected but for the surprise inspection made by the sales tax authorities on August 26, 1958. The assessee then went before the Tribunal. Before the Tribunal it was contended that apart from the findings given in the assessment proceedings, there is no other material to lead to the inference that the assessee had wilfully suppressed the income or that there has been non-disclosure of the particulars of such income, and that the turnover of Rs. 92,000 was added to his total turnover only on the ground that its account books are not reliable. The assessee also stated that in this case the enhanced assessment has resulted only because his explanation as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... elating to the ownership of the pocket note book and the relevancy of the entries therein to the assessee's business, and from the mere rejection of the explanation given by the assessee resulting in the enhanced assessment it will not automatically follow that the assessee has deliberately suppressed the income. In this connection reliance is placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Anwar Ali. We, however, find in this case that, apart from the rejection of the explanation given by the assessee, there is concrete material in the form of entries in the anamath book which has been found to relate to the assessee's business. Some of the entries in the anamath pocket book actually find a place in the regular ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee produced the same. It is, therefore, possible from the above circumstances to draw an inference that the assessee intended to conceal the turnover of Rs. 92,000 in the assessment proceedings under the Income-tax Act. We find that the Tribunal has referred to the above circumstances which we have set out above as leading to the inference that the suppression of the turnover was a deliberate one which could not have been detected but for the surprise inspection. We are, therefore, of the view that the Tribunal's conclusion that the suppression of the turnover was a deliberate one is supported by material on record. We have to uphold the view of the Tribunal in this case. Therefore, the first question is answered in the affirmative and agai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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