DEVI PRASAD SINGH, VISHNU CHANDRA GUPTA, JJ. - (1.) HEARD Shri D.D. Chopra learned counsel for the appellant and learned counsel for the respondents.
(2.) INSTANT appeal has been preferred under Section 260 -A of the Income Tax Act -1961 on the following substantial question of law: - "Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the learned Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was justified in holding that Section 145(2) rejecting the books of accounts maintained by the assessee cannot be invoked when the Assessing Officer had established the fact that bogus expenditure of labour was claimed by the fraudulently obtaining thumb impression." The assessee company had filed return showing loss of Rs. 3,81,030/ -. The assessment was completed under Section 143(3) on the total income of Rs. 27,62,000/ - by making dis allowance on account of various expenses claimed/debited in Profit and loss account to the extent of Rs.2.37 crores as against gross receipt of Rs. 2.16 crores and the books of account was rejected by the Assessing Officer under Section 145(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The CIT(A) had partly allowed the appeal with liberty to Assessing authority to recomputed the labour charges on the basis of original records. The operative portion of the order passed by the CIT Appeal is reproduced as under: - "As per the approved valuer's certificate event the percentage of expenditure on labour and masion will be 20 percent and the appellant's total expenditure is less than this percentage. This shows that the appellant can execute the work in an economical way. However, the fact that in must roles the thump impression were of one person only and sometime of 2 persons only. I direct the AO to examine those pages and allow payment of one person/two persons appearing on such pages and disallowed the balance labour payments recorded on these pages as such payment is clearly unproved. The AO will allow payment of one person with respect to those pages where all the thumb impression is by one person. Similarly the AO will allow the payments of two persons with respect to these pages were the thumb impressions are by two persons. The exact dis -allowance will be worked out by the AO and added the same in computing the income from contract. In other words to the result declared by the appellant in construction activity, the excess payment of labour charges will be added.".
(3.) THE order passed by the CIT (A) was subject matter of dispute before the Tribunal. The Tribunal had reaffirmed the order passed by the CIT(A) hence, the present appeal. While assailing the impugned order passed by the CIT (A) and tribunal learned counsel for the appellant invited attention to the thumb impression on the receipt with regard to labour charges containing the impression of same persons on various pages. The assessing authority had sent the vouchers to forensic expert, who sent his opinion with the finding that the fake receipts were used by the assessee containing thumb impression of some person at different places.;