Girdari Lal, Faridabad V. ITO WARD - 1(3), Faridabad

ITA 1636/DEL/2020

AI Insights

The case involves Girdari Lal, a 92-year-old individual, who appealed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Faridabad, which arose from the assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer under Section 147 read with Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The dispute centered on the addition of Rs. 27,85,000 to the assessee's income, attributed to unexplained cash deposits in his bank account during the assessment year 2010-11. The assessee claimed that these deposits were from cash in hand, sourced from the sale proceeds of agricultural lands sold in the financial year 2005-06. The Assessing Officer rejected this explanation, leading to the appeal before the Tribunal.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 121525 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 2 year(s) 7 month(s) 23 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 22-05-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: B
• Next Hearing Date: 08-05-2023
• Assessment Year: 2011-2012
• Appeal Filed On: 29-09-2020
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Section: 147; 148; 143(3)

Judgement Text

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH “B” DELHI BEFORE SHRI CHANDRA MOHAN GARG, JUDICIAL MEMBER & SHRI PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER I.T.A. No.1636/DEL/2020 Assessment Year 2011-12 Girdari Lal Sec-80 Barcoli Faridabad Haryana. Vs. The Income Tax Officer Ward-1(3) Faridabad TAN/PAN: AFRPL7291N (Appellant) (Respondent) Appellant by: Shri Jitender Wadhwa, CA Respondent by: Shri Sanjay Kumar Yadav, Sr.DR Date of hearing: 09 05 2023 Date of pronouncement: 23 05 2023 O R D E R PER PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA, A.M.: T he capt ione d a ppeal has bee n file d by t he assess ee a gainst the order of the l d. C ommiss ione r of Income Ta x (A ppe als ), Far idaba d (‘C IT (A )’ i n s hor t) date d 17. 03. 20 20 a rising f rom the assess me nt orde r dat ed 02. 08. 20 17 pass ed by th e Assessing O fficer (AO ) unde r Sec ti on 1 47 r. w .s 143(3) of the Income Ta x A ct, 1961 ( the A ct) conce rni ng A Y 2010 -11. 2. A s per t he capti on ed appeal, the assessee has c ha ll enge d the addi ti ons of Rs. 27,85, 000 /- on acc ount of cas h de posi ts i n the bank. 3. Br ie fl y s tated, t he assesse e a n individual is 92 ye ars o ld a nd cla imed t o ha ve e a rned income from agri culture a nd fa rm bus iness I.T.A. No.1636/Del/2020 2 in al l his li fe ti me a nd continues to earn i n this man ner. Du ri ng the ass ess ment ye ar, t he asses see de posi ted c ash of Rs. 27, 85,0 00/ - in his b ank acc ount in que stion. The cash depos ited is cla i med to be out of cas h in hand w hose bas ic sourc e is s ale pro ceeds fro m ag ri cult ura l land s old in Fi na nc ial Y ear 2005-06 for a n amount of Rs. 2, 20, 36, 875/- out of w hich Rs. 2, 19,36, 875/ - ha d bee n rec ei ve d by c heq ue i n t he bank and re mai ni ng R s. 1 lakh w as received i n cash a bout t he t i me of sale. The A ss essi ng O fficer based on the cash de posi t in hi s savings bank account invoke d the provisio ns of Sect ion 14 8 r.w . Sect ion 147 of th e Act and made the add iti on of the af oresai d a mo unt holding t he s ource of cash depos ite d du ri ng the yea r, has not b een prove d. 4. A gg rieve d by t he afor esa id addit io ns , the assessee pre ferre d appea l before t he CIT (A) wi thout any re li ef. 5. Fur th er aggr ieve d, the assess ee pref er re d appea l bef ore the Trib una l. 6. When the matter w as calle d fo r hearin g, the ld. couns el for the assess ee s ubmi tte d th at the asses see is a ver y ol d p ers on aged 92 years a nd ha s earned i nc ome from agric ult ura l acti vi tie s. In the prese nt case, the assessee h as sold agr ic ul t ural l an d parce l i n F.Y . 2005-06 a nd u sed to w i th draw and d epo sit the f unds fro m ti me t o time i n his s av in gs ba nk acc oun t on demand b y h is ki th and ki n for te mporar y us es. Besides, t he cash we re wi thdrawn out of nece ssit y for his ow n needs and h eal thca re as t he assesse e is w hol l y depen dent on his fa mi l y at t his age. A dve rt ing t o s ou rce, the ld. counse l submi t te d that the yea r-wise c ash summa r y show i ng the w it hdraw als and deposits of cash a fte r the sa le of ag ri cult ura l land in F. Y . 2005- 06 ha s be en p lac ed fo r perus al. T he I.T.A. No.1636/Del/2020 3 ld. c ounsel als o pl aced det ails of fixed de pos i ts made from t ime t o time ove r past s eve ra l ye ars, out of sale proceeds of the ag ri cult ura l la nd. A final s ummary o f the ut i liz at ion of fu nds w ere als o furnished in t his regard to j us tif y the source o f cas h depos i ts. It w as poi nted out t ha t on a combi ned r ea di ng o f s uch tabula r sta tements p laced in the pa pe r book, it ca n be seen th at the ca sh depos its of Rs. 27, 85, 000/ - i n ques tion is di re ct l y linked t o t he sal e proceeds o f t he a gricul tural l and. T he assessee, at this old a ge, has no ot her sou rce of in come a nd is basi cal l y su rvi vi ng on the af oresaid sa le proceed/ mone y is being wi thdraw al and deposi te d havi ng regard to t he fa mi l y require me nts a nd healt hcare. I n the Financ ial Y ear 2010-11 rel evan t to Assess me nt Year 2011 -12 i n que st ion als o, the assessee has w i t hdraw n Rs. 3 5, 75,000 /- w he re as the cas h depo sit is on ly R s.27, 85, 000/-. A t the be gi nni ng of the Financ ial Y ear, the asses see is havi ng cas h in hand of Rs. 28, 09,603/-. A gain st t he cheq ue of Rs. 1, 98, 38, 375 /- deposi te d in Ba nk Account on 09.0 3. 2006 bein g sa le p rocee ds of l and pa rcel, a cash sum ma r y s ta tement after such deposit is refer red to in this re ga rd repr oduce d he re unde r: P e r i o d I n c o m e ( R s . ) C a s h w i t h d r a w n ( R s . ) C a s h D e p o s i t ( R s . ) C a s h U t i l i s a t i o n ( R s . ) B a l a n c e ( R s . ) F . Y . 2 0 0 5 - 0 6 0 . 0 0 3 0 , 0 0 , 0 0 0 / - 0 . 0 0 0 . 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 F . Y . 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 0 . 0 0 1 3 4 7 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 8 3 3 5 9 4 2 8 6 6 4 1 F . Y . 2 0 0 7 - 0 8 0 . 0 0 5 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 5 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 6 9 9 1 6 4 1 F . Y . 2 0 0 8 - 0 9 0 . 0 0 7 1 7 0 0 0 3 2 0 9 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 4 3 4 9 6 4 1 F . Y . 2 0 0 9 - 1 0 2 , 8 4 , 9 6 2 / - 1 7 5 0 0 0 1 7 5 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 9 6 0 3 F . Y . 2 0 1 0 - 1 1 2 , 0 0 , 0 0 0 / - 3 5 7 5 0 0 0 2 7 8 5 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 3 6 4 9 6 0 3 T o t a l 4 , 8 4 , 9 6 2 / - 2 6 3 4 2 0 0 0 1 1 5 9 4 0 0 0 1 1 5 8 3 3 5 9 7. T he l d. counse l th us s ubmi tte d t hat t he re w as no w a rra nt t o doubt the verac it y of the s ource of ca sh dep os it i n the hands of the I.T.A. No.1636/Del/2020 4 assessee in the pecul iar circums tances. T he ld. counsel t hus submit ted t ha t t he Revenue w as not j us ti fie d in maki ng suc h addi ti ons des pite t he c onsis tent s tand of the asse ssee in this rega rd sin ce beginning a nd in total dis re ga rd t o t he humb le backgrou nd of t he asse ssee me rel y f or the rea son tha t t he agr icul tura l land w as sol d long back. 8. T he ld. D R f or t he Reven ue, o n t he other han d, re fe rred t o and r el ied upon the fi rst appe llate orde r and t he ass ess ment o rder and submit ted that t he b urde n w hic h l ay u pon the a ssessee t o dis charge his onus towa rds s ource of cash de pos i t ha s not been sat isfactoril y di sch ar ged. 9. We have ca re ful l y c onsi de re d t he rival s ub mi ss ion s and pe rus ed the mat erial p laced be fore us w ith t he ass ista nce of the res pect ive s ide s. 10. O n pe rusa l of t he case recor d in enti re ty, w e fin d th at the assessee has s uff icientl y demons t rated t he factua l matrix and the ci rc ums ta nces for holdi ng the cas h a nd depos iti ng th e cash in the assess me nt year u nde r que st ion. W hen hol ist ica l ly seen in the backd rop that t he assesse e is an agricul t uris t has s ol d a pa rce l of land and w ithdraw n cash, s how n pa rt ial ut il iza tion the reof tow a rds purchase of pr opert y in the na me of ki t h and ki n and fixed depos its e tc. o ver a peri od of time, we tend to concu r wit h the explana tio n offer ed in t hi s regard. 11. It is not uncom mon in the I ndian So cie ty t o w i thdraw cash and hold a par t o f it as a meas ure of an abundant cau ti on on safet y. S uch app roach is mo re prevalent i n rural soc iet y t o wh ic h the a ssesse e be lo ngs to. H aving regard to the co nventional const ructs and pos tulat ions whic h de fi ne In dian soci o- ec o I.T.A. No.1636/Del/2020 5 struc ture, the ex planat io n of the as sessee is n ot quite ha rd to pe rceive. Cou pl ed w it h this, fact t hat t he assessee has give n pro per sum ma ry of yea r-w ise act of wi thdraw al, deposit a nd ut il iza t io n o f ca sh and c ash w i thdra wal of R s.3 5. 75 lakh in th e assess me nt ye ar i tself, t he onus place d upon the assessee t o explain t he s ou rce of cas h depos it, to our mi nd, has bee n sat isfactoril y dis ch arged. N eedless t o sa y, the onus of proo f var ies fro m case to c ase and t he l aw does no t require t he a ssessee to dis charge the o nus t o the hilt i n every case. W e find m er it i n the explana tio n offe re d b y t he assessee. T he orde r of the C IT (A) is thus set a si de a nd the i mpugned acti on of the A ssess ing O ff icer is re ve rsed. 12. In the res ul t, the appeal of t he asses see is allow e d. Order pronounced in the open Court on 23/05/2023 Sd/- Sd/- [CHANDRA MOHAN GARG] [PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA] JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER DATED: /05/2023 prabhat