COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX Vs. J P DUBEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of the Department's applications under Section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act"), made in all the three aforesaid miscellaneous civil cases to direct the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Indore, to refer the undernoted three questions said to be of law to this court for its opinion arising out of its common order dated February 16, 1990, passed in I. T. A. Nos. 447, 448 and 449/(Ind) of 1986 and its refusal to refer the questions by order dated November 21, 1990, passed in R. As. Nos. 104, 105 and 106/(Ind) of 1990 :

(2.) The assessee is a Sub-Divisional Officer of Irrigation Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The assessment years involved are 1982-83, 1983-84 and 1984-85. In the course of assessment proceedings for the assessment year 1982-85, the Income-tax Officer made enquiries regarding house property which stood in the name of Smt. Kiran Dubey, the wife of the assessee, purchased from the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board, for a sum of Rs. 82,564. According to the assessee, the house was purchased by his wife and the source of investment was as under : <FRM>JUDGEMENT_101_LAWS(MPH)3_1996.html</FRM>

(3.) On enquiries the Income-tax Officer found that the alleged gift by Shri Devkinandan Choubey was not genuine inasmuch as the donor was not in a position to make such a gift. The Income-tax Officer came to the conclusion that the said house was purchased by the assessee himself benami in the name of his wife. He, therefore, added Rs. 78,000 and also Rs. 8,000, the alleged loan advance made by the assessee to his wife, to the income of the assessee in the assessment year 1982-83. In the subsequent assessment years 1983-84 and 1984-85, the rental income of the house was also added to the income of the assessee.