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09) supra. So, in advance itself the assessee got the land at Silvasa converted for industrial purpose.

M/s. Modern Malleables Limited, AY: 2013-14 21 Meanwhile looking for investors, the assessee company's director Shri A.N. Choudhuary came across an interested company M/s. NCPL which showed keen interest on the proposal of the JV to start factory at Silvasa with the assessee company. Then after a series of discussions and correspondences exchanged between M/s. NCPL and the assessee company, finally the assessee company's board of directors approved the JV agreement with them and got the funds as investment from M/s. NCPL to the tune of Rs. 17.46 crs. This JV agreement through which the assessee received Rs. 17.46 cr which was later re-paid by the assessee has been disbelieved by the AO & the ld. CIT(A) as an afterthought and cooked up story to cover the investigation wings discovery during the search on 02.07.2013 at the premises of Shri Anand Sharma and Shri Janardhan Chokhani, wherein Shri Anand Sharma admitted to the department that assessee received Rs. 16.18 cr from M/s. NCPL, which is a shell company of his and that transaction was only an accommodation entry. Based on the strength of the statement of Shri Anand Sharma, the AO took up the assessment of assessee for scrutiny and asked for explanation from assessee as to the amount of Rs.17.46 cr it received from M/s. NCPL. Pursuant to which the assessee explained that it received the sums of Rs. 17.46 cr from M/s. NCPL on the strength of a JV agreement proposed to start a factory at Silvasa to produce highly advanced products. The AO disbelieved the JV agreement produced before him. For that he relied upon the statement recorded by him of the director of M/s. NCPL, Shri Sushil Kumar Bhatter and drew adverse inference against the assessee and made the entire addition of Rs. 17.46 cr u/s. 68 of the Act, which action of AO has been confirmed by ld. CIT(A). So first of all we have to examine the JV agreement carefully and we note that the JV agreement between the assessee company and M/s. NCPL (M/s. Navratra Commercial Pvt. Ltd) was finalized and signed on 31-07-2012 before Sri B.K. Banerjee, NOTARY PUBLIC, CALCUTTA & 24 PARGANAS, C.M.M's Court, Compound, 2 , Bankshall Street, Calcutta-700 001 and copy of the same is found placed at page-12 to 21 of the P/B. On a perusal of the same, we note that it was signed/executed on 31-07-2012. This JV agreement has been executed between the assessee and M/s. NCPL on a Non Judicial Stamp Paper of Rs. 50/- (Fifty Rupees) with the Seal affixed of Shri B.K. Banerjee, Notary Public, whose Regn No. 145/80 is found placed at page-12 of the P/B and a Notarial Certificate has been issued by Shri B.K. Banerjee, Notary, Regd. No. 145/80. This document (JV agreement) has been disbelieved M/s. Modern Malleables Limited, AY: 2013-14 by the AO/ld. CIT(A). They have alleged the same to be an afterthought to cover the admission made by Shri Anand Sharma during search that M/s. NCPL was a Shell company and it provided accommodation entry to the assessee company to the tune of Rs. 17.41 cr. However, we note that the aforesaid document (JV agreement dt. 31.7.2012) was produced before the AO and if he had any doubt about the veracity of the document, he ought to have summoned the Notary Public and examined as to whether the JV agreement has been executed after the date given on it i.e. 31-07-2012 by inspecting the statutory books maintained by the Notary Public. And the AO could have summoned and examined the Stamp Vendor to find out the date of purchase of Stamp Paper by the assessee to find out as to whether the document was prepared ante- dated which would have brought to light that it was an afterthought action of assessee or not, which exercise unfortunately the AO has not bothered to inquire at all. Without carrying out any inquiry by collecting some evidence/material to find any infirmity in the document from which some adverse inference could have been drawn, instead the AO had simply brushed aside the notarized document by simply stating that he disbelieved it on the basis of conjectures and surmises which action of AO cannot be countenanced for the following facts and circumstances also brought to our notice. We note that in order to show the bona fide of the JV agreement the ld. AR drew our attention to the project report prepared pursuant to the Joint Venture agreement signed between the assessee (Modern Malleables Ltd & M/s. NCPL), which is found placed at pages 22-38 of the P/B. From a perusal of the same, it is noted that the assessee company owns a plot of land admeasuring 72,500 sq.mtrs situated at Survey No. 16/2, where the JV proposed to set up a factory and manufacture the following items:-