Rakesh Thakur, Kullu V. Addl. CIT, Range, Mandi

ITA 443/CHANDI/2019

AI Insights

The case involves appeals by Sh. Rakesh Thakur against penalties imposed for alleged violations of sections 269SS and 269T of the Income Tax Act, 1961, concerning cash transactions. The penalties of Rs. 9,65,000 each were imposed for receiving and repaying a cash loan of the same amount, which was claimed to be in violation of the Act. The assessee argued that the penalties were based on a forged document/affidavit submitted by another party and sought to have the case reopened to present additional evidence. The Tribunal found merit in giving the assessee another opportunity to substantiate his claims and thus restored the appeals to the First Appellate Authority.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 127822 (ITAT-CHANDIGARH)
• Duration Of Justice: 3 year(s) 9 month(s) 23 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 30-01-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: SMC
• Next Hearing Date: 30-01-2023
• Assessment Year: 2010-2011
• Appeal Filed On: 07-04-2019
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Section: 271D; 271E

Judgement Text

आयकर अपील य अ धकरण,च डीगढ़ यायपीठ, च डीगढ़ IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL CHANDIGARH BENCH, “SMC”, CHANDIGARH BEFORE SHRI SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA, JUDICIAL MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ ITA Nos. 443 & 444/CHD/2019 नधा रण वष / Assessment Years : 2010-11 & 2011-12 Sh. Rakesh Thakur, S/o Sh. Dile Ram, Old Manali, Tehsil Manali, Distt. Kullu (H.P.) बनाम The Addl. CIT, Range Mandi थायी लेखा सं./PAN NO: AEUPT2142L अपीलाथ /Appellant यथ /Respondent नधा रती क ओर से/Assessee by : Sh. B.M. Monga, Advocate and Sh. Rohit Kaura, Advocate राज व क ओर से/ Revenue by : Sh. Akashdeep, JCIT, Sr.DR स ु नवाई क तार%ख/Date of Hearing : 31.01.2023 उदघोषणा क तार%ख/Date of Pronouncement : 31.01.2023 आदेश /Order Per Sudhanshu Srivastava, Judicial Member: The captioned appeals have been preferred by the assessee against the separate orders dated 22.11.2018 passed u/s 250(6) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [in short 'the Act'] by the Ld. CIT(A) Palampur for assessment years 2010-11 and 2011-12. 2. Following grounds have been raised by the assessee :- ITA No. 443/Chd/2019:- 1. That order of the learned CIT (A) Officer is illegal and contrary to the facts and circumstances of case. ITA Nos. 444 & 445-Chd-2019 (AYs 2010-11 & 2011-123) - Shri Rakesh Thakur, District Kullu. 2 2. That, the learned CIT (A) erred in law as well as facts on imposing penalty of Rs.965000/- on the basis of forged document\affidavit submitted by other party. So penalty of Rs.965000/-may kindly be deleted. 3. The appellant craves leave for reserving the right to amend, modify, alter, add or forgo any ground(s) of appeal at any time before or during the hearing of appeal. ITA No. 444/Chd/2019:- 1. That order of the learned CIT (A) Officer is illegal and contrary to the facts and circumstances of case. 2. That, the learned CIT (A) erred in law as well as facts on imposing penalty of Rs.965000/- on the basis of forged document\affidavit submitted by other party. So penalty of Rs.965000/-may kindly be deleted. 3. The appellant craves leave for reserving the right to amend, modify, alter, add or forgo any ground(s) of appeal at any time before or during the hearing of appeal. 3. ITA No. 443/Chd/2019 challenges the confirmation of penalty of Rs. 9,65,000/- imposed u/s 271D of the Act, whereas, ITA No. 444/Chd/2019 challenges the confirmation of imposition of penalty of Rs. 9,65,000/- imposed u/s 271E of the Act. 4. Since both the appeals belong to the same assessee and arise out of identical transactions, they were heard together and are being disposed of through this common order for the sake of convenience. ITA Nos. 444 & 445-Chd-2019 (AYs 2010-11 & 2011-123) - Shri Rakesh Thakur, District Kullu. 3 5. At the outset, Ld. AR submitted that both the appeals were time barred by 53 days and while drawing our attention to the applications filed for condonation of delay, it was submitted that the assessee is a Bhajan and Folk Singer and he had to travel outstation frequently for studio recordings and uploading of his performances on ‘You’ Tube channels and that the assessee had remained out of station in connection with the studio recordings during the period January, 2019 to March, 2019 and, therefore, these appeals could not be filed in time. My attention was also drawn to the affidavit of the assessee in this regard and it was prayed that since the delay was inadvertent, the delay be condoned in both the appeals and the appeals be admitted for being heard on merits. 6. Per contra, the Ld. Sr. Departmental Representative (Sr.DR) opposed the applications of the assessee for condonation of delay. 7. Having heard both the parties, it is seen that the assessee had explained the cause of the delay in filing the appeals and his bona fide in this regard is also beyond doubt. I feel that no assessee would intentionally delay the filing of appeal and otherwise harm his chances of getting a fair hearing. Therefore, I condone the delay in both the appeals and admit the appeals for hearing. 8. The Ld. AR submitted that the assessee has been visited by two impugned penalties on the ground that the assessee had received loan aggregating Rs. 9,65,000/- from one Shri Vikram Sood in cash ITA Nos. 444 & 445-Chd-2019 (AYs 2010-11 & 2011-123) - Shri Rakesh Thakur, District Kullu. 4 which was in violation of the provisions of section 269 SS of the Act and, subsequently, on its repayment which was a violation of provisions of section 269T of the Act. It was submitted that during the course of First Appellate proceedings, the assessee had submitted before the Addl. CIT that the assessee had a dispute with Shri Vikram Sood which was pending before the Hon'ble Judicial Magistrate, Manali with regard to the payment of loan of Rs. 19,05,000/- but this fact was overlooked by the Ld. Addl. CIT. It was submitted that an affidavit to this effect had also been filed during the course of assessment proceedings of Shri Vikram Sood. However, this fact was not considered by the Ld. CIT(A). The Ld. AR prayed that the assessee should be given one more opportunity to prove his case before the Ld. First Appellate Authority so that he can provide documentary evidences in support of his contention in this regard and prove that no such transactions had taken place as would invite the imposition of the impugned penalties. 9. Per contra,, the Ld. Sr. DR vehemently opposed the Ld. AR’s prayer for restoring the case to the file of the Ld. First Appellate Authority and argued that the assessee should not be provided with countless opportunities when initially itself the assessee had failed to discharge the onus cast upon him. 10. Having heard both the parties and after having considered the facts of the case, I feel that the assessee does deserve a second chance ITA Nos. 444 & 445-Chd-2019 (AYs 2010-11 & 2011-123) - Shri Rakesh Thakur, District Kullu. 5 to explain his case properly. The assessee is an agriculturist and also a Singer and he might not be well versed with the intricacy of the Income-tax Law and this should not cause any undue detriment to him. Therefore, without going into the legal issues involved or the merits of the case, I deem it expedient to restore both the appeals to the file of the Ld. First Appellate Authority to be decided afresh after giving adequate opportunity to the assessee to present his case and after permitting the assessee to file such documents and evidences on which he seeks to rely upon in support of his claim that the impugned penalties were not imposable. 11. In the final result, both the appeals stand allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced on 31 st Januarys 2023. Sd/- (SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA) Judicial Member Dated : 31.01.2023 “आर.के .” आदेशक त,ल-पअ.े-षत/ Copy of the order forwarded to : 1. अपीलाथ / The Appellant 2. यथ / The Respondent 3. आयकरआय ु /त/ CIT 4. आयकरआय ु /त (अपील)/ The CIT(A) 5. -वभागीय त न2ध, आयकरअपील%यआ2धकरण, च4डीगढ़/ DR, ITAT, CHANDIGARH 6. गाड फाईल/ Guard File आदेशान ु सार/ By order, सहायकपंजीकार/ Assistant Registrar