2014 (4) TMI 890 - AT - Income Tax

Appeal dismissed as order under Income Tax Act section 246A deemed non-appealable. Revenue appeals allowed.

ACIT Cir. 49(1), New Delhi Versus M/s Air France, New Delhi

The ITAT upheld the CIT(A)'s decision that the order under section 246A of the Income Tax Act was non-appealable. The directions for rectification within ... Validity of CIT(A)’s action – Dismissal of appeal against order u/s 200A of the Act – AO is directed to take corrective action - The CIT(A) on the one hand has dismissed the appeal of the deductor assessee by holding that the order passed by the Assessing officer u/s 200A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is not appealable u/s 246A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and on the other hand has given direction to the Assessing officer to take corrective action to rectify the mistakes in the order within two months either through the ITD System or manually – Held that: -As per the clear provisions of I.T. Act, if assessee chooses to proceed with the legal remedy provided by the Act, the AO has to decide the issue in accordance with law, even if there is no direction of the CIT(A) - The net effect of the direction of CIT(A) is to the effect that if the assessee files rectification application the AO will decide the same in accordance with law - The direction of the CIT(A) to assessing officer (TDS) to give appeal effect within 2 months of the receipt of order has no consequence inasmuch as the entire process will start only after application is filed by the assessee – the CIT(A)’s directions are ineffective and do not create any legal binding – the assessee has various remedies under Income-tax Act - To seek remedial action, there cannot be any estoppel over that remedial right in accordance with law - If the assessee chooses to take a remedial action as a rule of law AO has to decide the same in accordance with law - In view of assessee’s agreeing that appeals were not maintainable, the revenue’s appeals are allowed – Decided in favour of Revenue. Issues:1. Appeal against CIT(A) order on the maintainability of appeal under section 246A of the Income Tax Act.2. Directions given by CIT(A) for rectification of mistakes in the order within two months.Issue 1: The first issue in this case revolves around the appeal against the order of CIT(A) regarding the maintainability of the appeal under section 246A of the Income Tax Act. The Revenue contended that the CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the deductor assessee by holding that the order passed by the Assessing Officer under section 200A of the Income Tax Act is not appealable under section 246A. The Revenue argued that the CIT(A) gave directions to the Assessing Officer to rectify the mistakes in the order within two months, which they deemed erroneous and perverse. The ITAT considered the arguments and found that the CIT(A) correctly held that the impugned order was non-appealable, leading to the conclusion that the Revenue's appeals should be allowed based on the concession made by the counsel for the assessee.Issue 2: The second issue pertains to the directions issued by the CIT(A) for rectifying mistakes in the order within two months. The ITAT analyzed the effect of these directions and concluded that they were contingent upon the assessee filing a rectification application before the assessing officer. The ITAT emphasized that under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, if the assessee chooses to pursue the legal remedy provided by the Act, the assessing officer must decide the issue in accordance with the law, irrespective of any directions from the CIT(A). The ITAT determined that the directions of the CIT(A) were ineffective and did not create any legal binding since they were dependent on the assessee taking remedial action. As the assessee agreed that the appeals were not maintainable, the ITAT allowed the Revenue's appeals based on the lack of legal effect of the CIT(A)'s directions.In conclusion, the ITAT upheld the CIT(A)'s decision regarding the non-appealable nature of the order under section 246A and deemed the directions for rectification within two months as ineffective due to their dependency on the assessee's actions. The ITAT allowed the Revenue's appeals based on these findings.