2015 (7) TMI 1084
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he assessee received loan of Rs. 20,00,000 and repaid the same in cash. Following the same, the assessee was issued with a show- cause notice under section 271D read with section 269SS of the Income-tax Act and after receipt of notice dated February 21, 2012, and similar show- cause notice dated August 6, 2012, the assessee filed a letter along with the copies of letters of income and statement for the assessment years 2008-09 and 2009-10 wherein the assessee accepted the receipt of amount and repayment of the same by way of cash. A statement was also recorded from A. Kannan to the effect that he has the practice of lending and receiving back in cash and do not lend or receive back in cheque or draft from anybody. The assessee also filed an....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....evidence regarding its plea of reasonable cause to obtain the loan in cash. The insistence of the lender to advance the loan in cash cannot be treated as reasonable cause for excusing the appellant from levy of penalty under section 271D of the Income-tax Act. Therefore, under the facts and circumstances of the case, I am fully in agreement with the view of the Assessing Officer that penalty of Rs. 20,00,000 is leviable and uphold the action of the Assessing Officer in levying penalty of Rs. 20,00,000 under section 271D of the Income-tax Act. Hence, all the grounds raised by the appellant are dismissed." 5. Aggrieved against the same, the appellant-assessee preferred three appeals for the assessment year 2008-09 and for the assessment year....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....nfirming the levy of penalty under section 271D, the assessee has approached this court by filing T. C. A. No. 325 of 2015. Aggrieved against the order setting aside the penalty under section 271E for the assessment year 2008-09 and 2009-10, the Revenue has come forward with two Appeals in T. C. A. Nos. 291 and 292 of 2015 before this court. 6. The substantial questions of law that arise for consideration in all the three appeals are as follows : T. C. A. Nos. 291 and 292 "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the insistence of financier to repay the loan in cash is a compelling circumstances and is a reasonable cause for transacting the loan transaction in cash and thereby de....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... Joint Commissioner, Pondicherry. It may be true that the assessee come forward with regarding the purpose for which the amount was received and regarding the nature of the transaction between A. Kannan and himself, different explanation before different authorities. It is his stand before the original authority that the amount was received in the land dealing and the same is again modified by stating that it was a loan transaction for personal purpose. The contention raised before the Commissioner (Appeals) is that he received the same by way of advance for land dealing and as the dealing could not be finalised, the same was agreed to be refunded in instalments and, accordingly, refunded. Whereas the explanation offered before the Tribunal....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....s that the assessee was deprived of valuable opportunity to defend his case for want of copy of the statement given by the financier Kannan and the copy of the materials seized from him and without giving him an opportunity to cross-examine Kannan. The impugned order of the authorities below is based on two reasons (1) the assessee has not come forward with consistent case, and (2) no reasonable cause is shown for receiving the loan in cash. As rightly argued by the learned counsel for the appellant-assessee, the authorities below before arriving at such conclusion ought to have considered the explanation offered by the assessee and the documents based on which the same was made. The Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) and the Tribunal hav....