Penalty for concealment requires more than a rejected claim; deletion was upheld on identical facts and reasoning.

Penalty under section 271(1)(c) was held not leviable where the additions and disallowances were materially similar to those examined in the assessee's earlier years. The governing principle applied was that penalty requires concealment of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars, and a claim rejected in law does not by itself establish concealment. As identical penalty issues had already been deleted in the assessee's own case on the same reasoning, judicial consistency was followed and the penalty deletion was upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty under section 271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was leviable on the additions and disallowances sustained in the assessee's case.

Analysis: The appeal was examined in the light of the earlier orders in the assessee's own case for preceding assessment years, where identical penalty issues arising from similar disallowances had already been considered. The governing principle applied was that penalty under section 271(1)(c) requires either concealment of particulars of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars, and that a claim rejected in law does not, by itself, establish concealment. Since the facts and additions were materially similar and the coordinate bench had already upheld deletion of penalty on the same reasoning, judicial consistency was followed.

Conclusion: Penalty was not leviable on the facts of the case, and the deletion of penalty was upheld.

---