TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (8) TMI 517
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....this common judgement. 2. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), the revenue has preferred the present Tax Appeals assailing the following orders: Tax Appeal No. Date of Tribunal's order ITA No. Assessment Year 976 of 2007 05/01/07 3681/Ahd/2003 1997-98 940 of 2007 05/01/07 3680/Ahd/2003 1996-97 1870 of 2008 26/06/08 3517/Ahd/2003 1996-97 1693 of 2009 26/06/08 1357/Ahd/2006 1996-97 1694 of 2009 26/06/08 1519/Ahd/2006 1996-97 3. The following questions of law were raised for consideration by this Court: TAX APPEAL NO. 976 OF 2007 "(A)Whether the Appellate Tribunal was j....
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....71(1)(c) of the I.T. Act?" TAX APPEAL NO. 1694 OF 2009 "Whether the Appellate Tribunal is right in law and on facts in confirming the order passed by the CIT(A) in cancelling the penalty levied u/s 271(1)(c) of the I.T. Act?" 4. Tax Appeal No. 976 of 2007 is being taken as lead matter in these set of appeals and therefore we advert to the facts of the said case. The original assessment was completed in this case u/s 143(3) of the Act determining the total income at Rs. 21,58,02,400/- as against the return income of Rs. 2,41,09,803/-. The MAT income declared by the assessee was Rs. 10,21,36,660/-. Thereafter, the assessment was reopened u/s 147 of the Act on the basis of information received from the DDIT(Inv.) regarding bogus purchases ....
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....eassessment, the reopening is illegal. He submitted that the Tribunal has grossly erred in concluding that initiation of proceedings was invalid merely because no addition was finally made in the income on the reasons on which the assessment was reopened. 5.1 Drawing attention to the provisions of Section 147 of the Act, Mr. Mehta submitted that for initiation of proceedings u/s 147 of the Act, at the initiation stage, what is required is 'reason to believe' but not the establishment of factum of escapement of tax. He submitted that at the initiation stage, the final outcome of the proceedings is not relevant. He submitted that the scope of the Tribunal was limited in such cases but the Tribunal erred in travelling beyond the scope of its ....
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..... We have gone through the order passed by the Tribunal and considered the arguments advanced by both the sides. The Tribunal in para 32.1 of the impugned order has observed as under: "32.1Further, we, after having gone through the facts and circumstances of the case, are of the opinion that so far as transactions of so-called bogus purchases entered into by the assessee with S/Shri Nikunj Shah and Jitendra Shah are concerned, the Revenue has alleged the escapement of an income of Rs. 1 lac, but there being no addition on this account, the only conclusion which can be arrived at is that proceedings u/s 147 of the Act were initiated only for the sake of reopening of the completed assessment, more so because the assessee had already disclose....
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....hen one reads the assessment order and the penalty order wherein the assessing officer has stated that the assessee cannot claim the sum of Rs. 68,332/- as a deduction on due basis. The assessee has never claimed any deduction qua this amount. The deduction claimed is qua a separate amount, and that too, on actual payment basis. There is no claim for deduction on due basis. The entire premise, therefore, is incorrect. 25. Once there is absence of mens rea, mere omission from the return of income of an item of receipt neither amounts to concealment, nor deliberate furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income, as laid down by the Apex Court, unless and until there is some evidence or some circumstances to show that the omission was attribu....
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....tified in passing the impugned order. The proceedings u/s 147 of the Act were initiated solely on the ground that Shri Nikunj Shah and Shri Jitendra Shah had issued bogus bills to various parties including the assessee and escaped income was stated to be only Rs. 1 lakh. Considering the assessee's revised return which was taken into account while completing the regular assessment as well as the reassessment, it is borne out that the assessee itself had disclosed income of Rs. 20 lakhs from the transactions carried on with said Shri Nikunj Shah and Shri Jitendra Shah in revised return which stood taxed and the Assessing Officer had not made any addition in the reassessment on this account. We are of the view that the Tribunal has rightly hel....