Income Tax Appeal v. Shri Laxmi Narayan Saharan

- 1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR -------------------------------------------------------- INCOME TAX APPEAL No. 18 of 2008 V/S SHRI LAXMI NARAYAN SAHARAN Mr. KK BISSA, for the appellant / petitioner Date of Order : 4.2.2008 HON'BLE SHRI N P GUPTA,J. HON'BLE SHRI DEO NARAYAN THANVI,J. ----- Heard learned counsel for the appellant andperused the impugned order of the learned Tribunal. Admittedly, the assessment has been made by theAssessing Officer under Section 143 and not under Section144 or 145. In such circumstances, in our view, may be thatSection 142A has been introduced w.e.f. 1992, but thenSection 142A also provides for making reference to theValuation Officer, where, an estimate of value of anyinvestment referred to in Section 69, or Section 69B, orthe value of any bullion, jewellery, or other valuablearticle referred to in Section 69A, or Section 69B, “is required to be made”, the Assessing Officer may require theValuation Officer to make estimate. Then a look at Section69A, 69B, and Section 69 would show that the threeprovisionscontemplateunexplainedinvestment,or unexplained money, or amounts of investment not fully disclosed in the books of accounts. It is not the case,that the assessee has not fully disclosed the investment inthe books of accounts, rather the books of accounts havebeen found to be regularly maintained, and if the AssessingOfficer felt necessary, he could issue notices underSection 143(2), and still if the assessee failed to complywith all the terms of that notice, perhaps recourse toSections 69, 69A, or 69B could be had but then in our view,Section 142A does not empower the Assessing Officer in eachand every case of regular assessment, as of routine, torefer the matter to Valuation Officer. Obviously on thevery face of language of Section 142A, the recourse isapplicable, only in cases referred to in Section 69, 69A,and 69B. In that view of the matter, we do not find anyerror in the findings of the learned Tribunal. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed. /tarun/