Wife cannot plead Ignorance about a Huge Cash Flow in her deceased Husband’s Bank Account: Karnataka HC [Read Judgment]

The Karnataka High Court, last week held that a wife cannot plead ignorance about a huge cash flow in the bank account of her husband.

The assessee, T. V Satyanarayana, a First Division  Clerk of the City  Civil  Court, Bangalore, received a large sum of  Rs.95.83 lakh in his Bank Account. Suspecting the transaction, the assessing Officer sent a notice to the assessee asking him to explain the source of the money.

Unfortunately, the assessee expired before receiving the notice. On receipt of the same, the wife of the assessee responded that she was not aware of the tax matters and the details of the bank accounts of her husband. However, the objections were overruled by the department and passed an order demanding tax.

The petitioner approached the High Court through a writ petition and submitted that in the absence of any separate Notice issued in the name of the petitioner-wife, Smt. S. Savithri, she is not accountable or answerable to furnish the said information as required under Section 133 (6) of the Act.

After hearing the rival contentions, Justice Vineeth Kothari found that the petition was misconceived and cannot be entertained. “The Notice even if deceased, the  Legal Representatives or the persons who inherit the estate of the deceased persons will have to comply with the said  Notice for furnishing the requisite information. The very purpose of the provisions of Section 133 (6) of the Act is to elicit the requisite  information  and  details  from  the  person concerned.”

“There is nothing on record to show that the fact of death was within the knowledge of the Respondent-Income Tax Officer and he still issued the Notice to a deceased person. The Legal  Representatives including the petitioner, wife of late Mr.T.V.  Sathyanarayana before this Court cannot protest or deny the obligation to furnish such information including the Bank details and relevant vouchers to be obtained from the concerned Bank of the husband of the present petitioner. After all, the wife of a person cannot plead ignorance about a huge cash inflow in her husband’s bank account,” the Judge added.