Law:

Section:

Section 69, read with section 131, of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Unexplained investments - Assessee carried on business of purchase and sale of silver ornaments, utensils, etc. - During search conducted at his residential and business premises, certain silver ornaments were seized, which were not accounted for in books of account - Assessee explained that he had purchased said ornaments from 'R' - Assessing Officer examined 'R' behind back of assessee and informed him that 'R' had denied to have any transaction with him - Assessee made a prayer under section 131 to summon 'R' for cross-examination - Assessing Officer, however, rejecting assessee's prayer and also ignoring affidavit filed by 'R' subsequently, wherein he confirmed transaction with assessee, passed assessment order making an addition on account of unexplained silver ornaments - Whether since Assessing Officer had not summoned 'R' in spite of request made under section 131, evidence of 'R' could not have been used against assessee and in absence of affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard by summoning said witness, assessment order was vitiated and could not be sustained - Held, yes FACTS The assessee carried on business of purchase and sale of silver ornaments, utensils, etc. During the search conducted at his residential and business premises, certain silver ornaments and utensils were seized, which were found to be in excess of accounts as per books of account. The assessee explained that he had purchased said silver from 'R'. The Assessing Officer examined 'R' behind the back of the assessee and informed the assessee that 'R' had denied to have any transaction with him. The assessee made a prayer under section 131 to summon 'R' for cross-examination on the ground that statement of 'R' was utilized against him. The Assessing Officer, however, rejecting the assessee's prayer and also ignoring R's subsequent affidavit confirming the transaction with the assessee, passed assessment order making an addition on account of unexplained silver ornaments. On appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals) upheld the order of the Assessing Officer. On second appeal, the Tribunal also confirmed the order of…

Deprecated: trim(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/digixyei/sldsystempk.com/view/master-layout/view_case.php on line 492