Select Infinlease P.Ltd, New Delhi V. DCIT, Circle-23(2), New Delhi

ITA 8592/DEL/2019

• Counselvise Citation: [2022] 106 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 6075 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 2 year(s) 8 month(s) 14 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 17-07-2022
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: G
• Assessment Year: 2011-2012
• Appeal Filed On: 03-11-2019
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Assessee Lawyers: RAVINDER SINGH AHUJA
• Section: 147

Judgement Text

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH “G” DELHI BEFORE SHRI CHALLA NAGENDRA PRASAD, JUDICIAL MEMBER & SHRI PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER I.T.A. No.8592/DEL/2019 Assessment Year 2011-12 Select Infinlease Pvt. Ltd., 1 st Floor, S-423, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi. v. DCIT, Circle-23(2), New Delhi. TAN/PAN: AAFCS6802E (Appellant) (Respondent) Appellant by: Shri Ravinder Singh Ahuja, CA Respondent by: Shri Abhishek Kumar, Sr.D.R. Date of hearing: 16 06 2022 Date of pronouncement: 18 07 2022 O R D E R PER PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA, A.M.: Th e cap tio n ed ap peal h as b een filed at th e in s tan ce o f th e assesse e ag ain st t h e o rd er o f th e Co mmiss io n er o f Inco me Tax (Ap p eals)-VIII, New Delh i (‘CIT’ in sh o rt) d ated 2 8.0 8 .2019 arisin g fro m th e a ssess men t o rd er d ated 1 6 .1 2 .2 01 8 p assed b y the Assessin g Officer (AO) u nd er Sectio n 1 47 r.w. Sectio n 1 4 3(3 ) o f th e In co me Tax Ac t, 1 9 6 1 (th e Act) c o n cern in g AY 2011 -1 2 . 2. The g ro un ds of a pp eal r ais ed b y t h e a s ses se e reads a s un d er: “ A ) T h a t o n t h e f a c t s & c i r c u m s t a n c e s o f t h e c a s e th e l e a r n e d I T O & t h e C I T ( A ) e r r e d i n : a ) T h a t l e a r n e d A s s e s s i n g O f f i c e r h a s e r r e d i n r e op e n i n g t h e a s s e s s m e n t , w h i c h h a d s e t a t r e s t l o n g b a c k , p u r e l y o n t h e b a s i s o f t h e i n f o r m a t i o n r e c e i v e d f r o m t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n w i ng o f t h e I n c o m e I.T.A. No.8592/DEL/2019 2 T a x w i t h o u t v e r i f y i n g t h e g e n u i n e n e s s o f t h e s a m e fr o m t h e r e c o r d s a n d f r a m i n g h i s m i n d i n d e p e n d e n t l y . b ) T h a t l e a r n e d A s s e s s i n g O f f i c e r h a s e r r e d i n i n vo k i n g s e c t i o n 6 8 o f t h e I n c o m e T a x A c t w i t h o u t f i n d i n g a n y c r e d i t i n t h e b o o k s o f t h e a p p e l l a n t , w h e r e n a t u r e o r s o u r c e o f s u c h c r e d it h a s n o t b e e n e x p l a i n e d b y t h e a p p e l l a n t . c ) T h a t l e a r n e d a s s e s s i n g o f f i c e r e r r e d i n t r e a t i ng t h e s a l e p r o c e e d s o f i n v e s t m e n t s t o M / s O c t o p u s I n f o t e l P r i va t e L i m i t e d f o r R s . 1 , 6 5 , 0 0 , 0 0 0 / - r e c e i v e d f r o m A x i s B a n k , K a l b a d e v i, M u m b a i , b r a n c h , a s a p p e l l a n t s o w n i n c o m e f r o m u n d i s c l o s e d so u r c e s w h e n h e d i d n o t f i n d a n y a l l e g e d c r e d i t o f R s . 7 0 , 0 0 , 0 0 0 /- t h a t t o o f r o m A x i s B a n k , S a r a t B o s e R o a d , K o l k a t a b r a n c h , i n t h e b o o k s o f t h e a p p e l l a n t d u r i n g t h e c o u r s e o f r e a s s e s s m e n t . d ) T h a t l e a r n e d A s s e s s i n g O f f i c e r h a s n o j u r i s d i c ti o n t o r e a s s e s s t h e i s s u e s o t h e r t h a n t h e i s s u e s i n r e s p e ct o f w h i c h t h e p r o c e e d i n g w e r e i n i t i a t e d , h e w a s n o t j u s t i f i e d t o d o s o w h e n t h e r e a s o n s f o r i n i t i a t i o n o f t h o s e p r o c e e d i n g s h a d c e as e d t o s u r v i v e . e ) T h a t l e a r n e d a s s e s s i n g o f f i c e r e r r e d i n n o t p r ov i d i n g t h e c o p y o f t h e s t a t e m e n t s r e c o r d e d i n t h e b a c k o f t h e a p p e l l a n t i n r e o p e n i n g a s w e l l a s f r a m i n g t h e a s s e s s m e n t , i n s p it e o f s p e c i f i c r e q u e s t o f t h e a p p e l l a n t . f ) T h a t l e a r n e d a s s e s s i n g o f f i c e r h a s a l s o e r r e d in n o t c a l l i n g a n d a f f o r d i n g a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o c r o s s e x a m i n e t h e wi t n e s s o f t h e d e p a r t m e n t , w h o s e a s s e r t i o n s h a v e b e e n r e l i e d t o i ni t i a t e r e o p e n i n g p r o c e e d i n g s a n d f r a m i n g a s s e s s m e n t a g a i n st t h e a p p e l l a n t , i n s p i t e o f s p e c i f i c r e q u e s t o f t h e a p p el l a n t d u r i n g t h e c o u r s e o f r e a s s e s s m e n t . g ) T h e l e a r n e d a s s e s s i n g o f f i c e r h a s a l s o e r r e d i n t r e a t i n g t h e p r o c e e d s r e c e i v e d a g a i n s t t h e s a l e o f i n v e s t m e n t s as a p p e l l a n t s I.T.A. No.8592/DEL/2019 3 o w n i n c o m e f r o m u n d i s c l o s e d s o u r c e s i n c o m p l e t e d i sr e g a r d t o a p p e l l a n t ' s p r o v i d i n g a l l n e c e s s a r y d o c u m e n t s w i t h r e g a r d t o t h e g e n u i n e s a l e o f i n v e s t m e n t s a n d t h a t t o o a f t e r i n d ep e n d e n t l y v e r i f y i n g t h e s a m e b y i s s u e s o f n o t i c e t o t h e p u r c ha s e r . h ) T h a t t h e a s s e s s m e n t o r d e r i s e r r o n e o u s a n d u n s us t a i n a b l e i n l a w a s w e l l a s o n m e r i t s a n d s o a d d i t i o n m a d e t h e r ei n . i ) T h e o r d e r s p a s s e d b y l e a r n e d a s s e s s i n g o f f i c e r i s b a d i n l a w a n d a g a i n s t t h e p r i n c i p l e s o f n a t u r a l j u s t i c e . j ) T h a t o n t h e f a c t s a n d c i r c u m s t a n c e s o f t h e c a s e t h e l e a r n e d A s s e s s i n g O f f i c e r e r r e d i n m a k i n g t h e a d d i t i o n m e r el y o n t h e b a s i s o f i n v e s t i g a t i o n r e p o r t w i t h o u t d o i n g a n y e n q u i r y on h i s o w n . k ) T h a t t h e A s s e s s e e h a d m o v e d a d j o u r n m e n t a p p l i c a ti o n b e f o r e t h e C I T ( A ) o n l i n e w h i c h h a v e n o t b e e n c o n s i d e r e d b y t h e C I T ( A ) a n d t h e r e f o r e a d e q u a t e o p p o r t u n i t y h a s n o t b e e n g i v e n by t h e C I T ( A ) . ” 3 . Wh en th e mat ter was cal led fo r h ea rin g , th e ld . co u n sel fo r th e assesse e stra ig h taway su b mitt ed t h at th e CIT(A) h as d ismi ssed th e ap p eal o f th e assess ee ex-p a rte an d th u s en d o rsed th e ad d itio n s/d is al lo wan ces ch al len g ed in th e firs t ap peal . In th e ma tt er, th e ld . co u n sel referred to a t ab u lar stat emen t a t p arag raph 3 o f th e firs t a p p ellat e o rd er an d p o in ted o u t th at o n l in e ad jo u rn men t req uest was so lic i ted v id e lett er d ated 2 2 n d Ju ly , 2 0 19 , 2 9 t h Ju ly , 2 0 19 , 7 t h Au gu st, 2 0 19 and also 23 r d Aug u st, 2 0 19 . Th u s, th e ad v erse o b serv atio n o f th e CIT(A) fo r non att en d an ce is wi t h o u t co n sid erin g th e o n lin e req u est mad e o n b eh alf o f th e asse ssee. Ld . co u n sel th u s su b mi tted t h at a fresh o p po rtu n ity sh o u ld b e g iv en to th e as sessee to p reven t mi scarri ag e o f ju st ice an d th e ma tt er b e resto red to th e fi le of C IT(A) fo r d en o vo ad ju d icatio n in ac co rd an ce wi th l aw. I.T.A. No.8592/DEL/2019 4 4 . Ld . DR fo r th e Rev en u e, on th e o th er h and , relied u p on th e o rd er o f th e CIT(A) an d su b mit ted th at th e CIT(A) in th e in stan t case h as also ad ju d icat ed th e issu e o n merit an d therefo re fai lu re o f th e assesse e to att en d th e firs t ap p ell at e p ro ceed in g s sh o u ld n o t b e co n d o n ed . 5 . On carefu l co n sid erat io n o f th e riv al su b mi ssio ns an d on p eru sal o f th e o rd ers o f th e lo wer a u th o rities , we n o ti ce th a t th e assesse e h as d u ly att en d ed th e asses smen t p ro ceed ing s b efo re th e Assessin g Offic er an d th e assess men t was fra med u n der Sect io n 1 4 7 r.w. Sect io n 14 3 (3) o f th e Act. Ho wev er, th e assessee h as n o t att en d ed b efo re th e CIT(A) d esp ite mu l ti p le n o tices. No twith stan d in g , we o b serv e in th e same v ein , th at t h e assessee h as d u ly resp on d ed to th e no tices th ro u gh e-mail , th e co g n izan ce o f wh ich h as n o t b een tak en b y th e CIT(A) at al l. Th e CIT(A) p ro ceed ed to d ispo se o f th e ap p eal o n th e p remise of to ta l n o n co mp li an ce o f n o t i ces o b liv io u s o f th e req u est fo r ad jo u rn men t. 6 . On merits , th e CIT (A) h as merely rei t erated th e o b serv at io n s mad e b y th e Asse ssin g Offic er an d su mmari ly d isp o sed o f th e ap p eal. Th e fac ts reco rd ed in th e sta te men t o f fac ts d o es n o t ap p ear to h av e b een d ealt wi th . Fo r i n stan ce, a s p er th e sta te men t o f fac t, th e asse sse e h ad req u ested th e Assess in g Offic e r to a ffo rd an o pp o rtun ity to cro ss-ex amin e th e witn ess o f th e Dep artmen t, i.e ., Mr. Jag d ish Prasad Pu ro h it. Th e CIT(A) h as not lo o k ed in to su ch mat eria l a sp ects a t al l wh ich h as resu l ted in mi s carriag e o f ju sti ce. 7 . In th e circu ms tan c es, i t wi ll b e ju st an d fair to p ro v id e an o p po rtu n ity afresh to th e asses see to ad d u ce ev id ences an d fu rn ish su ch ex p lan atio n as may b e co nsid ered ex p ed ien t b efo re th e I.T.A. No.8592/DEL/2019 5 CIT(A). Th e issu es in v o lv ed are ac co rd in g ly resto red to th e fi le o f th e CIT(A) fo r d en o vo ad ju d icat io n o f al l issu es in v o lv ed . 8 . In th e resu lt, th e ap p eal o f th e a ssessee is a llo we d fo r sta tis ti ca l p u rp o ses. Order pronounced in the open Court on 18/07/2022. Sd /- Sd /- [CHALLA NAGENDRA PRASAD] [PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA] JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Dated: /07/2022 Prabhat