TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (10) TMI 182
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....e sustained, the penalty imposed by the AO and sustained by the CIT(A) is liable to be cancelled." 2. The AO has levied seven penalties in all, each of Rs. 10, 000/- u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act for non compliance of a consolidated notice issued u/s 142(1) of the Act for the A.Ys.2008-09 to 2014-15, which penalties have been confirmed by the ld. CIT(A). Aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before us. 3. The ld. counsel for the assessee submitted that while sustaining the penalty, the CIT(A) has not appreciated the facts of the case, the submissions made before him and without taking into consideration the facts and the submissions filed before him, wrongly sustained the penalties imposed by the AO. In support, he relied upon the order of ITAT, Ahmedabad Bench in the case of 'Swarnaben M. Khanna vs. DCIT', [2010] 37 SOT 25 (Ahd.). 4. The ld. DR on the other hand placed strong reliance on the impugned orders. 5. Heard. A search U/s 132(1) of the I.T. Act was conducted at the premises of the assessee on 12.11.2013. The case of the assessee was centralized u/s 127 of the I.T.Act, 1961 with ACIT/DCIT (Central Circle), Agra vide order F.No. CITII/ Agra/Tech/Centralization/2014-15....
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....d been made by the assessee. Therefore, a show cause notice dated 10.08.20} 5 for imposition of penalty was also issued allowing the assessee to furnish his explanation. As per the body of penalty order, the AO has mentioned no compliance of either the notice issued under section 142(1) or of the .show cause notice was made by the assessee, resulting the AO has imposed seven penalties separately by passing of the seven penalty orders in respect of one default committed by the assessee for not making the compliance to the one notice issued under section 142(1) dated 28.08.2015. That the appellant respectfully submits, that in response to the notice issued under section 142(1), the assessee did attend the office and has made the request for supply of some seized document which are no! either copied or missed from the assesses accordingly an oral adjournment was allowed by the AO while there is no record of attending the office is available on the assessment record. There was no default intentionally on the part of the assessee. The penalty imposed vide penalty order dale 14-01.2016 is not called for. That alternatively the assessee also submitted that as per the rec....
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....ed being assessee was prevented by sufficient cause as suffering with illness of loss of memory and also his advocate did attend the office of the AO and an oral adjournment was duly allowed, no penalty for noncompliance is to be imposed." 7. The Ld. CIT(A) was not satisfied with the reply of the assessee and confirmed the penalty levied u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act by the AO in respect of all the seven assessment years. 8. The ld. CIT(A) has held as follows: "5.3 The undersigned has carefully gone through the penalty order and written submission filed by the appellant. It may be seen that a notice u/s 142(1) of the Act dated 28.08.2015 was issued and duly served upon the assessee calling for certain information/explanation. The date for compliance was fixed for 15.09.2015. In response, appellant did not comply and no adjournment was sought by the appellant. Further, show cause notice u/s 271(1)(b) dated 10.08.2015 was issued which remained unattended. Therefore, undersigned is of the view that the appellant has not only committed the default under the provision of 271 (1) (b) but also failed to show the reasonable cause for committing such default. As regards to consoli....
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....ssment year, you are required to furnish the following information/ details/explanation with supporting evidences so as to enable me to complete your pending assessment : 1. Give a brief note on nature of activities and sources of income during the year relevant to assessment year under consideration. 2. Furnish details of other income whether it is interest income or other than interest income. Amount of loans/advances/deposits on which interest was received. Name and address of persons whom deposits/loans are given file their copy of account and explain source of such loans etc. 3. Furnish evidence In support of agriculture income shown for different years, details of crop cultivated, total quantity of yield, details of expenses, gross sales price and net income with supporting evidence. 4. Complete names and addresses of parties from/to whom purchases/sales above Rs. 1lac were made with a copy of account of such parties. 5. Month wise details of Salary, Vehicle expenses and Interest with supporting evidence. 6. Furnish complete name and address alongwith telephone no. and detailed copy of account of sundry debtors above Rs. 1....
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.... 13. Complete address and exact location of immoveable properties, land, plots, fiats, houses held by you, area of land/plots etc., date and mode of their acquisition, amount of investment and source thereof. Details should be in following manner- S. No. Name & Address of Property. Purchase/acquisition value of Property Date of Purchase / acquisitio n Addition made as construction of building, if any. Date on which addition on were made. Total value of property Sources from where payments were made. . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Please furnish all the documents/Bills voucher of addition/Constriction of property alongwith purchase deed/sale deed. You are required to furnish certified map of the property, if any. 14. Whether you are assessed to Wealth-tax or not? If not, explain why you are not liable for wealth-tax. 15.Furnish confirmatory certificate regarding secured loans and furnish details of securities given for taking bank loan. 16.Copy of account of all the specified persons u/s 40A(2)(b) from whom loans were taken and interest has been paid, prove their identity, credit worthiness and genuine....
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....vities carried out during the foreign visit with supporting details of expenses incurred on such account. 27. Furnish the copies of all squared up accounts. 28. Produce all books of accounts, purchase &sale bills, stock register etc.for the relevant years. 29. At the time of Search/Survey operation on your premise, a reasonable quantity of cash and jewelry was found/seized. Please explain the source of cash and jewelry found from your premise with documentary evidences. You are requested to appear before me personally or through an authorized representative (with Vakalatnama/Power of attorney) along with above information with supporting evidences in my Room No.104, Aayakar Bhawan, Sanjay Place, Agra on 15.09.2015." 10. The order of the ITAT, Ahmedabad Bench in the case of 'Swarnaben M. Khanna' (Supra), relied upon by the assessee is distinguished by the Department on the basis that in that case, a search and seizure was conducted in assessee group, notice u/s 153A were issued to assessees for filing return of income, thereafter the AO issued notice u/s 142(1) to all assessees for AY 2006-07 only, and the AO issued letter requiring assessee to....
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....; that therefore, the Ld. CIT(A) has correctly held that it was a default for non-compliance to notice is for each A.Y. 2008-09 to 2014-15, and hence, the argument of the appellant that there exists only a single non-compliance cannot be accepted. 14. The CIT(A) has placed strong reliance on the order of ITAT, Lucknow bench in case of 'Shri Krishna Bihari Agarwal Vs. DCTT, Range-IV, Kanpur' in ITA No. 296/LKW/2015 dated 26.06, 2015, holding thatit is squarely applicable to the facts of case of the appellant where the ITAT held that "the conduct of the assessee shows that he is non cooperative to the AO and he has no respect for the authorities. Since the assessee never appeared before the AO in response to the notices issued by the AO either in the assessment proceedings or in the penalty proceedings, we are of the view that no lenient view can be taken on the assessee, as if the penalty is deleted, a message will go to the public at large that there is no need to make compliance of the notices of the I.T. authorities. Therefore, we are of the view that the order of the Ld. CIT(A) who has rightly confirmed the penalty, deserves to be confirmed and accordingly we confirm the same....