Ganpatraj A Sanghavi vs. ACIT (ITAT Mumbai)

(i) A perusal of the orders passed by the tax authorities would show that they have suspected the genuineness of the purchases only for the reason that the above said five parties were not available in the given addresses. It is pertinent to note that the AO himself, during the course of remand proceedings, have obtained the bank statements of the above said five parties. It is in the common knowledge of everybody that the bank account, now a days, could be opened only on submission of proper documents. Further the assessee has furnished the Sales tax documents of the above said five parties and also their income tax details to prove their existence. Thus, it is seen that the assessee has furnished many documents to prove the existence of the parties and they have not been controverted by the assessing officer.

(ii) Be that as it may, another important factor the bank account copies collected by the assessing officer shows that the assessee had made the payments to the above said parties by way of account payee cheques. Thus, it is seen that the transactions have been routed through the bank accounts. Further, it is not the case of the assessing officer that the assessee has indulged in accounting of bogus purchases. When the assessee submitted that he could not have effected the sales without making corresponding purchases, the AO has taken the view that the assessee could have effected purchases in the grey market, which conclusion is, in fact, not supported by any material. Under this impression only, the AO has further expressed the view that the assessee would have purchased the materials by paying cash thus violating the provisions of sec. 40A(3) of the Act, which is again based on only surmises. In the absence of any material to support the said view, we are unable to agree with the view taken by the tax authorities that the purchases amount is liable to be disallowed u/s 40A(3) of the Act. On the same impression only, the AO has expressed the view in the remand report that the purchases amount is also liable to assessed u/s 69C of the Act as the source of purchases were not proved. Again the said conclusion is based upon only surmises, which could not be sustained. Thus, it is seen that the assessing officer has accepted the fact that the quantity details of purchases and sales have been reconciled by the assessee. Further, various case law relied upon by the assessee also supports his case. Under these set of facts, we are of the view that the Ld CIT(A) was not justified in confirming the disallowance of purchases. Accordingly, we set aside the order of Ld CIT(A) on this issue and direct the AO to delete the disallowance of purchases.