VISHWA BHARATI EDUCATION SOCIETY V. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER

ITA/100020/2017

AI Insights

The case involves the Vishwa Bharati Education Society, which appealed against the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Bengaluru, concerning the reassessment of income for the assessment year 2010-11. The society had collected funds and sought registration under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, which was rejected. Subsequently, a notice under Section 148 was issued for reopening the assessment, leading to a reassessment of income. The Tribunal dismissed the society's cross objections regarding the reopening of the assessment as academic, prompting the society to appeal to the High Court. The High Court dismissed the appeal, noting that adjudicating on the cross objections would only serve academic interest, especially after the dismissal of the revenue's appeal.

• Counselvise Citation: [2018] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 726921 (HC-KARNATAKA)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 08-01-2018
• Assessment Year: misc
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: Y V RAVIRAJ
• Assessee Lawyers: SHASHANK HEGDE; S V RAVISHANKAR; V SHARMA; PRANAV KRISHNA; S ANNAMALAI
• Keywords: Appeal; Cross objection; Income Tax; Notice under section 148; Reassessment; Registration under section 12AA
• Section: 147; 148; 143(3); 12AA; 260A

Judgement Text

"IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA DHARWAD BENCH DATED THIS THE 8TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2018 PRESENT THE HON’BLE MRS. JUSTICE S. SUJATHA AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JOHN MICHAEL CUNHA I.T.A. NO.100020/2017 BETWEEN VISHWA BHARATI EDUCATION SOCIETY REP. BY ITS PRESIDENT PROF. ARAVIND MURAGAPPA GALAGALI 1ST FLOOR, ANAND COMPLEX, OPP. KOTAMBRI COLLEGE, VIDYANAGAR, HUBBALLI-580021. ... APPELLANT (BY SRI. SHASHANK S. HEGDE, SRI. S.V. RAVISHANKAR, SRI.V NARENDRA SHARMA, SRI. PRANAV KRISHNA, SRI. S.ANNAMALAI, ADVS.) AND THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX, CIRCLE-1(1) C.R.BUILDING, NAVANAGAR, HUBBALLI-580025. ... RESPONDENT (BY SRI. Y.V.RAVIRAJ, ADV.) THIS ITA IS FILED UNDER SECTION 260A OF THE INCOME-TAX ACT, 1961, PRAYING TO FORMULATE THE SUBSTANTIAL QUESTIONS OF LAW STATED ABOVE AND ANSWER THE SAME IN FAVOUR OF THE APPELLANT AND ALLOW THE APPEAL FILED BY THE APPELLANT AGAINST THE ORDER PASSED BY THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE : 2 : TRIBUNAL, BENGALURU 'C' BENCH IN CROSS OBJECTION VIDE C.O. NO.16/BANG/2016 ARISING IN ITA NO.624/BANG/2014 FOR THE ASSESSMENT YEAR 2010- 11 DATED 18.11.2016, VIDE ANNEXURE-A. THIS ITA COMING ON FOR ADMISSION THIS DAY, S.SUJATHA J., DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: JUDGMENT This appeal is filed by the assessee under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’ for short), challenging the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Bengaluru ‘C’ Bench, Bengaluru in ITA No.624/2014 for the assessment year 2010-11. 2. The appellant assessee is a registered society which has collected certain monies towards this society development fund and entrance fees from its members through banking channels and all the receipts have been duly entered in the books of the appellant during the assessment year 2010-11. The appellant during the said assessment year, had filed an application for registration under Section 12AA of the Act before the Commissioner of Income Tax and sought for the registration and filed Form No.10 before the : 3 : Commissioner of Income Tax which came to be rejected. A notice under Section 148 of the Act was issued to the appellant proposing to reopen the case of the appellant. In response to the same, the appellant filed reply requesting the Assessing Officer to treat the original return of income filed earlier as a return. The Assessing Officer proceeded to conclude the assessment by passing an order of assessment under Section 143(3) read with Section 147 of the Act, determining the total income of the appellant at Rs.2,53,80,309/-, as against the income declared by the appellant of Rs.nil. 3. Being aggrieved by the order of the reassessment, the appellant preferred an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) Hubballi. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) allowed the appeal in part. Being aggrieved by the same, appeals were preferred by the assessee as well as the revenue before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The appeal filed by the Department was dismissed and the cross objection filed by the appellant as regards the legal : 4 : issue of reopening was not adjudicated and same came to be dismissed as academic in nature. 4. Being aggrieved by the non adjudication of the grounds of cross objection by the Tribunal, on the legal issue of reopening under Section 147 of the Act, the appellant has preferred this appeal. 5. Heard the learned counsel for the parties. 6. The apprehension of the appellant – assessee is that the order of the Tribunal in not considering the cross objections filed by the assessee on merits would come in the way of the appellant, in the event revenue prefers an appeal and the matter to be decided on merits of the case. The Tribunal has dismissed the appeal filed by the revenue on merits of the case. However, the question what was required to be considered by the Tribunal was the claim of the assessee that the reopening of the assessment is not valid and on merit also though several grounds were urged, the same was not adjudicated, cannot be a : 5 : ground for the assessee to prefer this appeal merely on apprehension. 7. It is true that the revenue’s appeal being dismissed, adjudicating on the cross objections filed by the assessee would be only in the academic interest. However, to allay the apprehension of the assessee, we dispose of this appeal as not involving any substantial questions of law at present with liberty to the appellant – assessee to challenge the order impugned herein, in the event the revenue files an appeal challenging the impugned order. With the aforesaid observations, the appeal stands dismissed. Sd/- JUDGE Sd/- JUDGE Rsh "