- (1.) THE Tribunal, New Delhi has referred to following two questions of law under s. 256(1) of the IT Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") for opinion of this Court : "Whether, on the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was legally right in upholding the order of the DC (Appeals), whereby a direction has been issued to make substantive assessment in the case -
(2.) THE reference relates to the asst. yrs. 1989 -90 to 1992 -93.
(3.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts giving rise to the present reference are as follows: Four trusts were created by Brig. Kapil Mohan's family in the following manner: First son of Rakesh Mohan Founder - Brig. Kapil Mohan S/o Late Shri N.N. Mohan. Trustee - Smt. Puspa Mohan, W/o Brig. Kapil Mohan. Beneficiary - Shri Siddartha Rattan Mohan S/o Shri Rakesh Mohan Shri Rakesh Mohan is son of Late Col. V.R. Mohan. First son of Hemand Mohan 1. Founder - Smt. Comilla Mohan W/o Late Col. V.R. Mohan. 2. Trustee - Brig. Kapil Mohan S/o Late Shri N.N. Mohan. 3. Beneficiaries - First son of Hemand Mohan is son of Shri Sukhdev Mohan. First son of Pankaj Mohan (trust) 1. Founder - Shri Rakesh Mohan S/o Late Col. V.R. Mohan. 2. Trustee - Smt. Comilla Mohan W/o Late Col. V.R. Mohan. 3. Beneficiaries - First son of Pankaj Mohan. Pankaj Mohan is son of Late Col. V.R. Mohan. First son of Vinay Mohan (trust) 1. Founder - Smt. Comilla Mohan, W/o Late Col. V.R. Mohan. 2. Trustee - Shri Rakesh Mohan, S/o Late Col. V.R. Mohan. 3. Beneficiaries - First son of Vinay Mohan, Shri Vinay Mohan is son of Shri Sukhdeo Mohan, S/o Late Shri N.N. Mohan. The AO found all these trusts invalid on the premise that at the time of their creation neither the sole beneficiary was in existence nor was he identifiable with a reasonable amount of certainty. He, therefore, made protective assessments. During first appeal, the learned Dy. CIT(A) following the view taken by him in respect of the asst. yrs. 1987 -88 and 1988 -89 allowed the assessee's plea with the directions that the trusts be treated as valid and consequently assessments be made on substantive basis on the ground that the appeals for those years were pending before the taken during first appeal.;