Penalty notice specificity under income tax law is essential; vague charges on concealment or inaccuracy render penalty unsustainable.

A penalty under section 271(1)(c) was held unsustainable because the section 274 notice did not specify whether the charge was concealment of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars. The omission to identify the exact limb of the penalty provision made the notice invalid and vitiated the penalty proceedings. Applying the settled view on penalty notices, the defect in the charge rendered the penalty not leviable and it was cancelled.

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Issues: Whether the penalty under section 271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was sustainable when the show-cause notice did not specify whether the proceedings were initiated for concealment of particulars of income or for furnishing inaccurate particulars of income.

Analysis: The notice issued under section 274 read with section 271(1)(c) did not identify the specific limb of the penalty provision invoked. The notice was therefore held to be invalid, and the penalty proceedings were treated as vitiated. The decision followed the settled view that failure to specify the exact charge in the penalty notice renders the penalty unsustainable.

Conclusion: The penalty was held not leviable and was cancelled.

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