- (1.) The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has referred the following two questions for the opinion of this court: " 1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, there was any material for the Tribunal to disallow the sum of Rs. 20,795 on account of loss by fire ? 2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the payment of sales tax composition fee of Rs. 1,91,887 was an allowable expenditure for the assessment year 1968-69 ? "
(2.) The facts relevant to the first question are as follows: The assessee deals in the business of manufacture and sale of biris. In the previous year relevant to the assessment year 1968-69, the shop of the assessee at Meerganj was set on fire in communal disturbance. According to the assessee, a wall clock of the value of Rs. 100, 40 bags of biris valued at Rs. 10,400, match boxes of the value of Rs. 3,794, furniture worth Rs. 1,500 and cash amount of Rs. 5,000 were burnt. The total loss was calculated by him at Rs. 20,795 and he claimed the deduction thereof from the income of the year. The ITO did not accept the claim nor was it accepted by the AAC and the Appellate Tribunal.
(3.) Obviously, the petitioner could not claim exemption of the aforesaid amount unless he had proved that goods and cash to that extent were burnt in the fire. The finding recorded by the ITO, the AAC and the Appellate Tribunal is that the assessee failed to prove that loss. All the three authorities took into account the fact that no account books were produced in order to show as to what goods the shop contained on the date on which it was set on fire. Learned counsel for the assessee did not controvert this fact in his argument before us. It was, however, urged by him that the account books were destroyed in the fire and it was humanly impossible for the assessee to produce those account books. There was, however, no document to show that the account books were in the shop when it was set on fire and that they too had been destroyed. Reference was made by the learned counsel for the assessee to a letter that was sent by the assessee to the police in connection with that fire which was presumably treated as first information report.;