Law: Income Tax Act (XI of 1922)

Section: 28

Income tax Act (XI of 1922)----   ----- S. 28 (1) (c) Penalty Wilful concealment of income Burden of proof.   In a proceeding taken under section 28(l)(c) of the Income-tax Act, the onus lay upon the Income tax Department to show that the assessee was guilty of the offence mentioned in the section, and the mere fact that the assessee was not able to establish by satisfactory evidence the explanation offered by it with regard to the concealed income did not mean that the explanation was false or that the assessee has been guilty of deliberate suppression of the particulars of its income within the meaning of section 28 (1) (c) of the Act. On the facts their Lordships held that there was sufficient material before the Income tax Authorities for holding that there was a wilful suppression by the assessee of the particulars of its income within the meaning of section 28 (1) (c) of the Income tax Act, and accordingly a penalty had been validly imposed upon the assessee under that section.   Murlidhar Tejpal v. Commissioner of Income tax (1961) 42 I T R 129 fol.   Commissioner of Income tax v. Gokuldas Harivallabhdas (1958) 34 I T R 98 and Khemraj Chagganlal v. Commissioner of Income tax (1960) 38 I T R 523 ref. JUDGMENT   RAMASWAMI, C. J. In this case the assessee is a joint Hindu family carrying on the business of cloth at Gaya in the name of Nirmal Ram Hari Prasad. For the assessment year 1949 50, the assessee made a return of the income showing a net loss of Rs. 32,532. While examining the account books of the assessee the Income tax Officer discovered that a sum of Rs. 36,300 shown in the cash books was not carried over to the ledger account. The Income tax Officer also discovered that certain deposits amounting to Rs. 37,000 were in two banks, namely, the Bengal Central Bank Limited and the Punjab National Bank Limited, in the names of the family members of the assessee. The particulars of the deposits were as follows :   Rs. Rs. Bengal Central Bank 27-8-1948 7,000 23-10-1948 10,000 do. 10,000 do. 10,000 37,000 Punjab National Bank 15-11-1948 6,000 do. 9,000 4-11-1948 10,000 25,000     But these deposits were not shown in…