Where during a survey, the assessee surrendered an amount of Rs. 29 lakhs
towards “any other discrepancy” but later retracted from the
same and the question arose whether the assessee could be assessed despite
the said retraction, HELD:
(a) While conducting a survey u/s 133A the department has no power to
examine any person on oath. Consequently, such a statement has no
evidentiary value and no addition can be made solely on the basis of such
statement;
(b) The CBDT is not oblivious of the practice of obtaining forced
confessions and accordingly Circular dated 10.3.2003 makes it clear
that no attempt should be made to obtain confessions of undisclosed income;
(c) On facts, as there was no other material to show undisclosed income nor
were there any ‘discrepancies’ the addition could not be
sustained.
See Also: Vinod Solanki vs. UOI (Supreme Court) (law on retraction of
confessions) and Bhuvanendra 303 ITR 235 (Mad.)