COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. JOHNY JOSEPH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AT the instance of the Revenue, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal referred the following question for the consecutive assessment years 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1988-89 for the opinion of this court :

(2.) THE Appellate Tribunal found that the annual letting value returned by the assessee in respect of the properties owned by him in Alleppy Municipal Town is as under :

(3.) IT is not disputed, nor can it be disputed, as the Appellate Tribunal found it as a fact, that for the assessment year 1983-84 the assessee himself declared the annual letting value at Rs. 46,441. No doubt, for the years under appeal the assessee declared the annual letting value in descending trend without giving any cogent reasons therefor. No reason has been shown by the assessee that in the next following years the annual letting value went on decreasing. Normally, as observed by the Assessing Officer, the annual letting value should gradually increase. Simply because the annual letting value shown by the assessee was more than the one fixed by the municipality, the annual letting value declared by the assessee, could not be accepted.