Income Tax Officer vs Sadhu Ram Gupta Steels on 28 November, 1997
In the case of Satinder Kumar (HUF) vs. CIT (supra), referred to in the order of the Dy. CIT(A), although not cited before us by learned counsel for the respondent, the facts were to the effect that the assessee was an HUF, whose 'Karta' was a partner in a firm and the share income thereof was assessed in the hands of the HUF. The assessment year concerned was 1963-64 and on 14th January, 1966, the Karta and some others started a partnership firm doing the same business as the firm in which the Karta was a partner. For asst. yrs. 1967-68 and 1968-69, the HUF filed returns showing loss from the new firm. Later on, however, the HUF filed a revised return for asst. yr. 1968-69, in which the share income from the new firm was omitted and, instead, the said share income was included in the return filed by the Karta of the HUF in his individual status. It may be mentioned that the said share income was also shown in the returns of the individual for asst. yrs. 1969-70 and 1970-71. The ITO accepted the stand in the individual case but the Addl. CIT acting under s. 263 passed an order for asst. yrs. 1968-69 to 1970-71 holding that the share income from the firm was to be included in the assessments of the HUF. Further appeals to the Tribunal were dismissed and the Tribunal observed that as the business of the Karta prior to joining the new firm was the same as that of the earlier firm and the modus operandi was also the same as also the location and the principal place of the business, the same must be treated as an extension of the business carried on by the family. The Tribunal also relied on the circumstances that the Karta had earlier treated the business as that of the assessee family. It was in the aforesaid circumstances that their Lordships of Hon'ble Himachal Pradesh took the view that if the income from a source/property was assessed as the income of the HUF in one assessment year, it was still open to the assessee in a subsequent year to prove that the income did not belong to the family but to the assessee as an individual. The observation of their Lordships, reproduced by the Dy. CIT(A) in his appellate order, was made in the light of the aforesaid facts.