Suresh Kumar Sharma v. ITO (2020) 81 ITR 1 (Jaipur) (Trib)

S.147: Reassessment —Sale of property by mischief and forgery — Neither disclosing sale transaction nor offering capital gains- Reassessment held to be justified- Addition is held to be justified . [ S.148 ]

Dismissing the appeal of the assessee the Tribunal held that the execution of the sale agreement was not in dispute but the assessee claimed that subsequently the sale agreement was cancelled. when the assessee had neither disclosed the transaction nor offered any capital gains from the transaction the information received by the Assessing Officer based on these documents, to which the assessee was a party, constituted tangible material to form the belief that income assessable to tax had escaped assessment.  The reassessment was valid. As regards  the cancellation agreement was not found during the course of search and seizure action nor referred to during the course of assessment proceedings. It surfaced for the first time after the assessment order was completed by the Assessing Officer. This clearly showed that this was an afterthought and a manufactured document in support of the claim of non-receipt of sale consideration. The agreement which was found during the course of search was not in dispute and there was no scope for any inference or possibility against non-receipt of sale consideration as the agreement stated in clear terms that the entire sale consideration was received at the time of the agreement and that possession was handed over to the buyer. Accordingly, where the assessee was also a party to the illegal transaction of purchase and sale of the land the stand of the assessee of subsequent cancellation of the agreement did not inspire confidence. The assessee claimed to have purchased this property for a consideration of Rs. 4 lakhs only whereas the plot of land was sold by the assessee for a consideration of Rs. 38.50 lakhs. In the absence of any development during this intervening period of one year from the date of purchase and till the date of sale, the appreciation of value from Rs. 4 lakhs to Rs. 38.50 lakhs indicated the involvement of the parties in mischievous acts. ( AY.2012-13)