Belated compliance with section 142(1) notice did not justify penalty where details were accepted in assessment.

Belated compliance with a notice under section 142(1) does not, by itself, attract penalty under section 271A(1)(d) where the assessee furnishes the requisitioned details during assessment and the response is accepted. The penalty provision applies to failure to comply with the specified notice or direction, and its ingredients are not satisfied when the notice is ultimately complied with in the assessment proceedings. On that basis, the penalty was held unsustainable and deleted in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether penalty under section 271A(1)(d) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was leviable where the assessee furnished the required details in response to notice under section 142(1), but did so after the date fixed in the notice.

Analysis: The notice was ultimately complied with and the requisitioned details were furnished during the assessment proceedings. The provision invoked authorises penalty for failure to comply with the specified notice or direction, but does not extend to a case where compliance is made belatedly and the response is accepted in the assessment process. Since the assessee had in fact complied with the notice and the assessment was completed on that basis, the ingredients for penalty were not satisfied.

Conclusion: Penalty was not sustainable and was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Belated compliance with a notice under section 142(1), when accepted in the assessment proceedings, does not by itself attract penalty for non-compliance under section 271A(1)(d) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

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