# Tribunal asks Haryana taxpayer to plant 500 trees to contest Rs 11.22 crore addition 2026-08-21T21:52:12+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet A Haryana man who declared an income of Rs 1.79 lakh for assessment year 2017-18 had his income assessed at Rs 11.22 crore after the tax department found cash deposits of Rs 85.93 lakh during demonetisation, unsecured loans over Rs 9.25 crore, and sundry creditors over Rs 1.07 crore, all unexplained. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Chandigarh has granted him one final chance to present evidence before the Assessing Officer, on the condition that he plants 500 trees at the Yamuna Bank site in Panipat's Samalakha within one month, or deposits the full cost of planting and maintaining them with the NGO Hari Yamuna Sehyog Samiti. If he fails to comply, the original order confirming the Rs 11.22 crore addition will stand restored. The taxpayer had volunteered the plantation as a gesture of social and environmental responsibility. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Demonetisation-era cash deposits remain a persistent litigation trigger for small taxpayers, especially in states like Haryana where agricultural cash flows are poorly documented. The tribunal's unusual condition reflects a growing judicial willingness to accept restorative penalties in lieu of strict procedural defaults, particularly when the taxpayer volunteers the remedy. This does not set a binding precedent but signals a pragmatic approach in cases where the core dispute is evidentiary rather than fraudulent. Watch for compliance within the one-month deadline, and whether the Assessing Officer reopens the assessment or rejects the evidence again. ## Coverage - livemint.com Reports the tribunal order and tax expert comment without editorialising or taking sides. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: demonetisation, Hari Yamuna Sehyog Samiti, Haryana, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Panipat Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/tribunal-asks-haryana-taxpayer-to-plant-500-trees-to-contest-rs-11-22-crore-addition/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/tribunal-asks-haryana-taxpayer-to-plant-500-trees-to-contest-rs-11-22-crore-addition/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/