9911796707
TMI Blog1979 (11) TMI 23X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the disposal of these references. The assessee is the daughter of Shri Sewai Maharaj Dev Sir Tej Singhji of Alwar. She was married to Shri Digvijay Singhji of Wankaner on April 21, 1955. The marriage, however, did not turn out to be a happy one and on October 15, 1958, an agreement was arrived at between the assessee and her father on the one hand and her husband and father-in-law on the other. Under this agreement, the assessee received a cheque, for Rs. 4 lakhs, Rs. 3 lakhs from her father-in-law and Rs. 1 lakh from her husband. This under the agreement was described as " lump sum maintenance allowance for her lifetime ". The assessee was being paid maintenance allowance of Rs. 600 per month from her father-in-law earlier. But this wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 962, concerning the reasons why he had transferred an amount of Rs. 4 lakhs to the assessee. This query had reference to the cheque by way of Rs. 4 lakhs received by the assessee's father from the Wankaner family towards the return of tilak money, etc., which he passed on to his daughter. The assessee's father replied on February 15, 1962, giving the details and also referring to the agreements which had already been placed on the file. After the above correspondence had taken place, on 28th February, 1962, the ITO completed the assessment on a total income of Rs. 10,947. In other words, he did not bring to tax any portion of the money which the assessee had received from the Wankaner family. Subsequently, however, the ITO appears to ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... emic importance inasmuch as the initiation of the reassessment proceedings was not valid. Out of the aforesaid order of the Tribunal, the assessee and the Commissioner have sought references of the two questions which have been now referred for our decision: "1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the tribunal was right in holding that the proceedings for the reassessment under section 147(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, were invalid in law? 2. If the answer to question No. 1 is in the negative, then, whether, on the facts and in the circumstances, the amount of Rs. 4 lakhs could be brought to tax in the total income of the assessee in the assessment year 1959-60 ? " We have heard the learned counsel for the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... terials or without any enquiry into the materials which form part of the original assessment, section 34(1)(b) would have no application. The principles laid down in the above case were slightly modified by the Supreme Court in the recent decision in Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society v. CIT [1979] 119 ITR 996. At p. 1004, referring to the earlier decision regarding the circumstances which have been set out above, the court observed (p. 1004) : "Reliance is placed on Kalyanji Mavji Co. v. CIT [1976] 102 ITR 287 (SC), where a Bench of two learned judges of this court observed that a case where income had escaped assessment due to the 'oversight, inadvertence or mistake' of the ITO must fall within s. 34(1)(b) of the Indian I.T. Act, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... He also thought that some portion of these monies might be taxable in the hands of the assessee. He, therefore, Wrote to the assessee, raising specific queries in regard to the matter. The assessee gave detailed replies. The agreements were given. The fact of the receipt of the monies was admitted. It was mentioned that a part of the receipt was in lieu of maintenance. It was brought to the notice of the ITO that with effect from the date of the agreement, the maintenance which was previously being paid had been suspended. With all the information before him and with all these facts brought out in reply to his specific queries, the ITO completed the original assessment in which he did not include any part of the amounts received by the ass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
