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2023 (2) TMI 697

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....oviders. 3. That the commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in deleting of Rs. 1,76,00,000/- by ignoring the fact that the AO has clearly commented in the Remand report that the perusal of bank statement showed circulatory transactions, typical of entry businesses and loan givers don't have the capacity to advance such loans. 4. That the commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in deleting the addition of Rs. 74,83,17,490/- without appreciating the fact that the addition was based on incriminating material in the form of two balance sheets marked as real and final found during the course of search action. 5. That the commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in deleting the addition of Rs. 74,83,17,490/- by admitting in the appeal order that the assessee has himself books bogus creditors and by that logic the books of account submitted by the assessee cannot be treated as correct. 6. That the commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts of the case in admitting additional evidences under Rule 46A of Income Tax rules. 7. That the commi....

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....f the Act. The learned counsel also submitted that the Ld. CIT(A), while granting relief to the assessee had rightly relay on the judgment of Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court of Delhi in the case of CIT vs. Winstral Petro Chemical P Ltd. in ITA No. 992/2010 dated 12.05.2010, therefore first appellate order may kindly be uphold dismissing the ground of revenue on this issue. 5. On careful consideration of rival submissions first of all from first appellate order we observe that the Ld. CIT(A) has granted relief to the assessee with following observations and findings:- 11. I have considered the facts of the case, the assessment order, written submissions of the appellant, remand report of the Assessing Officer, rejoinder of the appellant and also the additional evidences filed under Rule 46A of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 during the course of appellate proceedings. I have also perused the case laws relied upon by appellant company in support of its case. The impugned addition was made by the Assessing Officer on the ground that the appellant did not prove the credit worthiness of the creditors and the genuineness of the transactions in the context of section 68 of the IT....

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....ans available on record. Without considering these documents, simply rejecting the same does not warrant an addition on the ground that the appellant did not submit details to satisfy the provisions laid down u/s 68. These loans were taken through banking channels and the Assessing Officer did not bring any material on record to prove it otherwise. In view of the above evidence available on records, the capacity of the lenders and genuineness of the transactions stands established and there is no merit in invoking the provisions of section 68. 11.2 On this issue, I draw support from the issue laid down by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in CIT vs. Winstral Petro Chemicals P Ltd in ITA No. 992/2010 dated 12.05.2010 wherein Hon'ble High Court held that where the identity, creditworthiness and genuineness of the transitions stands explained, there is no merit in making any addition in the hands of the appellant. 11.3 Therefore, the addition made amounting to Rs. 1,76,00,000/- is not sustainable and hence the same is liable to be deleted. 6. On careful consideration of rival submissions and stand of the AO simultaneously findings recorded by the Ld. CIT(A) we obse....

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....e authority has erred in deleting the said addition by admitting in the appeal order that the assessee himself booked bogus creditors and by that logic the books of accounts submitted by the assessee cannot be treated as correct. 8. The learned CIT(DR) also submitted that before granting relief to the assessee the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law on facts in admitting and considering the additional evidence under Rule 46A of the Rules therefore impugned first appellate order may kindly be set aside by restoring that of the AO. The Ld. CIT(DR) also relied on the judgment of Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of CIT vs. M/s. Jansampark Advertising and Marketing (P) Ltd. 9. Replying to the above the learned counsel of the assessee submitted that Ld. CIT(A) after considering assessment order written submissions of the appellant, remand report of the Assessing Officer rejoinder appellant to the remand report and additional evidence filed under Rule 46A of the Rules during the course of the appellate proceedings rightly concluded that the addition made by the AO on the basis of different sets of balance sheet found the during the course of search proceedings revealed differen....

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....lding & Offices Pvt. Ltd. listing the same at serial no 1 and 4 respectively therefore the application of assessee of under Rule 27 is squarely covered in favour of the assessee by the order of the Tribunal dated 08.09.2021 for A.Y. 2009-10 and 09.09.2021 for A.Y. 2010-11 and 2011-12 (supra). 11. Placing rejoinder to the above the Ld. CIT(A) strongly opposed to the submissions of the assessee as well as application dated 24.05.2022 of assessee under Rule 27 of ITAT Rules. However he could not show us any order of Hon'ble High Court to show that the said orders of ITAT Delhi 'G' Bench for A.Y. 2009-10 dated 08.09.2021 (supra) 2010-11 and 2011-12 dated 09.09.2021 (supra) have been set aside, modified or dismissed. 12. From the said order dated 09.09.2021 (supra), we note that the Tribunal first of all admitted the application of assessee filed under Rule 27 of ITAT Rules, 1963 with following observations and findings:- 12. At the outset, the ld. Counsel for the assessee, invoking the provisions of Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules submitted that the order of the Ld. CIT(A), which allowed relief on merit, is also supported on legal ground of non-application of mind by Addl. CIT....

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....'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Sanjay Sawhney vs Pr. CIT (supra). In that case also, a search u/s 132 of the Act was initiated on Kouton Group of cases on 19.02.2009. The Assessing Officer completed the assessment and determined the total income Rs.1,46,15,445/- against the returned income of Rs.8,90,760/- in the order passed u/s 153C of the Act. In appeal, before the Ld. CIT(A), the assessee besides challenging the additions made by the Assessing Officer on merits, also raised legal grounds qua the validity of the reassessment proceedings undertaken by the Revenue u/s 153C of the Act. The Ld. CIT(A) rejected the legal ground but allowed the appeal in favour of the assessee by deleting all the additions. 17. The Revenue contested the order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) by filing an appeal before the Tribunal challenging the deletion of the additions. In the said proceedings, the appellant-assessee made an oral application under Rule 27 of ITAT Rules and urged additional grounds against the findings of the CIT(A) pertaining to the issue of recording of satisfaction note, and the necessary condition of existence of nexus between assessment and incriminating material by cont....

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....as it stands today, does not mandate for the application to be made in writing. Revenue has not brought to our notice any particular Form notified for filing such an application. Revenue also does not controvert the contention of the Appellant that the draft Appellate Tribunal Rules 2017 proposing to insert a proviso to Rule 27, providing for an application to be made in writing, have not been notified, as yet. Therefore, the reasoning of the Tribunal for rejecting Appellant's contentions is palpably wrong. If the provision does not specify any defined structure for making an application in a particular manner, the Tribunal ought not to have deprived the Appellant of an opportunity to raise a fundamental question of jurisdiction, taking a hyper technical viewpoint. The Tribunal has plainly refused to consider the additional grounds on an erroneous premise which is contrary to the statutory scheme of the Act, that permits the Respondent to urge all grounds in support of the order appealed, as provided under Rule 27. The appeal deserves to be allowed on this short ground and we would have no hesitation in doing so with a consequential direction to ITAT to reconsider the matter af....

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....Cross-objections. A memorandum of cross-objections filed under sub-section (4) of section 253 shall be registered and numbered as an appeal and all the rules, so far as may be, shall apply to such appeal. Section 253. Appeals to the Appellate Tribunal. (1) xxxx (2) xxxx (3) xxxx (4) The Assessing Officer or the assessee, as the case may be, on receipt of notice that an appeal against the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), has been preferred under subsection (1) or sub-section (2) by the other party, may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, within thirty days of the receipt of the notice, file a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (3)." 13. The Rule 27, has been a subject matter of interpretation of several decisions of various High Courts and many of those have been relied upon by both the counsels. We do not perceive the need to elaborate....

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....ribunal, It would of course be open to the Tribunal to remand the proceedings for fresh ascertainment of facts. The substance of rule 12 is this. The appellant can only urge grounds either set forth in the memorandum of appeal or subsequently taken with the leave of the Tribunal, but the Tribunal's powers to decide the appeal are not subject to any such restrictions. Turning to rule 27 which permits the respondent before the Tribunal to support the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on any of the grounds decided against him, it seems to be clear that this is a right conferred upon him. The Tribunal has no discretion to deprive the respondent of the benefit of this rule. It is an enabling provision which the respondent can avail himself of in order to retain the benefit which has accrued to him from the order appealed against. 12. The rule that a respondent before the court or Tribunal can justify and support the decision in his favor not merely on grounds favourably decided but also on other grounds held against held against him by an authority whose decision is challenged on appeal is nothing peculiar to the procedure before the Income-tax Appellate Tribuna....

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....ubject-matter of the appeal under the guise of invoking rule 27. This contention is unexceptionable and we do not think that the learned counsel for the assessee disputed it. But then, what is the subject-matter of an appeal? The answer is simple. The subject-matter is that which the Tribunal or the appellate court is called upon to decide and to adjudicate. The subject-matter cannot be identified with the grounds raised either by the appellant or by the respondent. In the present case the subject- matter of the appeal before the Tribunal was the reduction of tax rebate in respect of Rs. 3,54,716. It is impossible to contend that the subject-matter of the appeal lay within a narrower limit and that it was the question whether the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was right in not allowing reduction of rebate on the ground mentioned by him. The assessee had obtained relief before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to a particular extent. And this was objected to by the department in the appeal before the Tribunal. The applicability of section 34 of the Act was a general question raised by the assessee even before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. It cannot be said that it becam....

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....h had not been appealed against by either of the parties. But this does not mean that the respondent should be denied the opportunity of supporting a decision in his favour which has come up on appeal on a ground decided against him by the authority whose decision is challenged. 17. We would like to refer to two decisions of the Bombay High Court on this question of the scope of appellate power of the Tribunal and the right of the respondent to support the decision on grounds decided against him. In J.B. Greaves v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1963] 49 I.T.R. 107.] the Bombay High Court held, following two decisions of that court, New India Life Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1957] 31 I.T.R. 844.] and Commissioner of Income-tax v. Hazarimal Nagji & Co. [[1962] 46 I.T.R. 1168.] , that the subject-matter of an appeal is confined to grounds specifically raised in the memorandum of appeal, the new grounds raised by the appellant with the previous permission of the Tribunal and the grounds urged by the respondent in support of the decree passed in his favour, even though the decision of the court, against which the appeal is filed, is against him. The learne....

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.... and on the principles which we have ourselves set forth, the Tribunal acted rightly in permitting the assessee to raise the question of the applicability of section 34 before it. Questions Nos. 1 and 2 raised in this reference will, therefore, be answered against the department and in favour of the assessee." (emphasis supplied) 15. Now, we shall deliberate on the judgement of this Court in Commissioner of Income Tax Central - II v Divine Infracon Pvt. Ltd, 2015 64 taxman.com 472 (Delhi) which has been strongly relied upon Mr. Hossain to suggest that the court has taken a different view on Rule 27 that is in consonance with his contentions. Let's first briefly refer to the facts of the said case. Here, the assessee filed an appeal before the CIT (A) against the order of the AO challenging additions made under section 68 of the Act, on merits, as well as on the ground that the same were beyond the scope of section 153A as the share application money was duly disclosed in its return and the addition was unrelated to any incriminating material found in the search. The CIT(A) decided that the addition was beyond the scope of 153A, however at the same time, he upheld th....

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....ade by the AO were beyond the scope of Section 153A had been decided by the CIT (A) in favour of the Assessee and the decision on the said issue had attained finality as the revenue had not preferred any appeal with regard to the CIT (A)'s order. 8. It is also relevant to note that by virtue of Section 253(2) of the Act, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, if he objects to an order passed by the CIT (A) under Section 250 of the Act, direct the AO to prefer an appeal to the Tribunal. It is not disputed that no such directions to file an appeal against the CIT (A)'s order dated 21st January, 2014 were issued by the concerned Income Tax Authority. 9. In the circumstances, there could be no dispute that the CIT (A)'s order in so far as it relates to the issue regarding the assessment being beyond the scope of Section 153A of the Act had attained finality, and thus, could not have been disturbed by the Tribunal. xxx xxx xxx 12. Indisputably, the Revenue could also not take recourse to Rule 27 of the Income Tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963. By virtue of the said Rule, a respondent before the Tribunal can support the decision appea....

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....; in the contentions, but at the same time, the additions under section 68 of the Act were confirmed, partly allowing the appeal. The Assessee then impugned the action of the CIT(A) specifically on the point of contradictory findings i.e having found merit on the legal issue viz. section 153A, the additions could not have been sustained. This is evident from ground urged before the Tribunal to the effect "That the Learned CIT (Appeals) has grossly erred in law and on facts in sustaining the addition made by Assessing Officer under sec.68 of the Act amounting to Rs.20,25,00,000 particularly having regard to the fact that very assumption of jurisdiction to bring to tax the aforesaid sum was beyond the scope of Learned CIT(Appeals) in the impugned order." Revenue then filed an application under Rule 27 before the Tribunal which was admitted and duly adjudicated in favour of the assessee. In these circumstances, in further appeal, since the Revenue had not filed any cross appeal or objections, this Court in these peculiar facts rightly held that Revenue could not have raised the plea under Rule 27 before the Tribunal, since the issue as sought to be urged by the Revenue was subject mat....

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....eal. Furthermore, the High Court held that the appellant would not be left in a worse off position than where it was before filing of the appeal, if the said ground raised by the respondent under Rule 27 was examined and allowed by the tribunal, as the AAC had decided in favour of the respondent-assessee on merits. The relevant portion of the aforenoted judgment is extracted hereunder: "16. How then is the subject-matter of the appeal to be determined? This is easy, for an appeal comes up before the Tribunal because one of the parties before the AAC-- the assessee or the ITO is aggrieved by the order of the AAC. He comes to the Tribunal to have his grievance redressed and the subject-matter of his grievance is set out in the grounds of appeal filed by him. To start with, therefore, the subject-matter of the appeal is constituted by the grounds of appeal filed by him which will clearly identify the question in dispute in the appeal. Rule 12 of the Tribunal Rules, as they stood at the relevant time, laid down the general rule that an appellant shall not urge or be heard in support of any ground of objection, not set forth in the grounds of appeal. But this rule has also an e....

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.... and dismissing the appeal and cannot be made use of, to disturb or to set aside, the order in favour of the appellant (See Bamasi v. CIT, [1972] 83 ITR 223 (Bom)). This liberty to the respondent is reserved by r. 27 of the Tribunal Rules. xxx xxx xxx 23. Of course, as pointed out by the Bombay High Court in Bamasi v. CIT, [1972] 83 ITR 223, earlier referred to, the assessee could use this argument only to sustain the order of the AAC but not to get further relief and have the reassessment itself annulled and thus adversely affect the appellant and place it in a worse position than if it had not appealed at all. This decision illustrates the principle that the subject-matter of the appeal should be Understood not in a narrow and unrealistic manner but should be so comprehended as to encompass the entire controversy between the parties which is sought to be got adjudicated upon by the Tribunal. xxx xxx xxx 26. Suppose the assessee prefers an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal, against the AAC's order, contending that the determination of the sale consideration is excessive and the Tribunal is inclined to accept the figure of Rs. 2 lakhs shown by....

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....s a logical corollary, allowed the interest substantially (except to the extent of inflation found by him). When, on appeal, the Tribunal decides to restore the ITO's finding that the transactions were bogus then the logical consequence will be a reversal of the AAC's allowance of interest also. For the reasons discussed above, we are unable to construe the subject-matter of the appeal as restricted to the ground raised, viz., deletion of Rs. 9,28,000. We think the subject-matter of the appeal was the genuineness or otherwise of the share transactions and the profit assessable in respect thereof. On this, the AAC had given two findings, one against the assessee and the other against the department. In view of the former being substantially beneficial to it, the department could not be aggrieved by the consequential finding on the latter. Unlike in Sundaram's case, [1964] 52 ITR 763 (Mad), where at least it could be said that the assessee could have filed an appeal in regard to the applicability of s. 34 as that was a separate and independent ground decided against it, here, however, as mentioned earlier, the department could not have filed an appeal on this point as it ....

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....ircumscribed and is confined only to the grounds urged by the Appellant. Firstly, the subject matter of an appeal is not be construed narrowly, as already observed above. Subject matter is "comprehended as to encompass the entire controversy between the parties which is sought to be got adjudicated upon by the Tribunal". Secondly, if jurisdictional objection under Rule 27 is gone into by the Tribunal, albeit raised by resort to Rule 27, it cannot be said that the subject matter is expanded under the guise of the said provision. It cannot be said that Respondent is taking away benefit that could be said to have accrued in favour of the Appellant before the Tribunal. The jurisdictional question is not an independent issue that can be reversed only by way of an appeal or cross objection. We do not find any merit in the submission of Mr. Hossain. 20. Having analyzed the judgments relied upon by the Revenue and not finding same to be of any assistance to the Revenue, we now proceed to examine the legal position that emerges from a plain reading of the provision in question. In fact, we feel the controversy sought to be raked up by the Revenue to deprive the Appellant [ Responde....

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....view that invocation of Rule 27 for challenging the decision of the CIT (A) on the legal ground was well within the scope of Rule 27. The Appellant - assessee, as a respondent before the Tribunal was within its right to support the order under appeal before the Tribunal by attacking the grounds decided against him. It should nevertheless be borne in mind that Rule 27 cannot be invoked by a Respondent on an issue which is independently decided against him in the order appealed by the Appellant. In other words, if there is an issue, which is separately decided against a Respondent [in appeal], and the decision on the said issue has no bearing on the final decision of the CIT (A), then invocation of Rule 27 to challenge the correctness of the same cannot be sustained. Rule 27 and the provisions dealing with cross objections operate in separate fields, although there is certain overlap between them. Evidently, if cross objection is not filed, the Respondent would run the risk of being faced with a situation that it cannot succeed in getting anything over and above the order in appeal being confirmed. If the Respondent wants to assail an independent issue that has been decided against h....

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.... the aforesaid decisions is that the appellant herein, (Respondent before ITAT) could have invoked Rule 27 to assail those grounds that were decided against him if those grounds/issues had a bearing on the final decision of the CIT(A). Revenue was certainly not taken by surprise as the appeal is considered to be continuation of the original proceedings. The ITAT had no discretion to deprive the appellant the benefit of the enabling Rule provision to defend the order of the CIT(A). The question of jurisdiction -which is sought to be urged by the Respondent while supporting the order in appeal, had a bearing on the final order passed by the CIT(A), because if the said issues were to be decided in favour of the appellant herein the assessee, that would have been an additional reason to delete the additions made by the A.O. 23. We shall now also note some other decisions, where similar issue has been considered. The decision in Kanpur Industrial Works v. Commissioner of Income-Tax, 1965 SCC OnLine All 480: (1966) 59 ITR 407 is worth mentioning. In this case, certain land of the assessee was acquired by the State Government for Rs. 10,000/- and immediately he was given a part o....

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....n the negative, and it was held that the assessee could contend that the receipts were not profits of a business at all, but for the purpose of showing that the department was not entitled to succeed in the appeal i.e. to an increase in the assessed income and not for the purpose of claiming the relief of quashing of the assessment order. It was held that so long as it did not ask for the quashing of the assessment order, its plea that the receipts were not profits ought to have been entertained. It was thus held that the answer to the question referred depends upon what the assessee prayed for before the Appellant Assistant Commissioner. If it prayed that the assessment order be quashed, it was not entitled to be heard, whereas if it simply prayed that the Department's appeal be dismissed, it was entitled to be heard. This judgment thus brings out this fine distinction with respect to the interplay of Rule 27, which is the pari materia provision under the rules in operation. The observations of the Court, bring out the scope of Rule 27, reads as under: "7. The provision in rule 27, with which we are concerned, is to be distinguished from that in Order 41, rule 22(1). ....

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....e, as the case may be. If the appellant before the Tribunal is the department claiming increase in the assessed income all that the assessee can urge is that there should be no increase; that is the only subject-matter of the appeal. If the assessee desires reduction in the assessed amount he himself must file an appeal; he has not been given the right to file a cross-objection. The only right given to him is of urging that there should be no increase, not only for the ground of defence accepted by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but also for the other ground of defence rejected by him. This is the only right given to him by rule 27. There is only one order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that assessing the income at a certain figure, and the right given to him is of urging another ground, though rejected by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, in support of it; he must support the order, i.e. must not ask for any variation (in his favour) in the order. In other words, he must not ask for any reduction in the assessed income. Asking for any reduction in the assessed income is not supporting the order assessing it. 8. As I said earlier the order is one assessi....

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....have filed an appeal against his being assessed but was not bound to do so even though he believed that he was not liable to be assessed at all. If he did not mind paying the tax on the assessed amount nothing compelled him to file an appeal. But this fact that he did not file an appeal does not estop him from contending in the department's appeal for an increase in the assessed amount that there should be no increase. He is not barred either by the rule of estoppel or by the rule of res judicata on account of the fact that on that ground he should not have been assessed at all and that he has submitted to his being assessed. His submission to the assessment order does not amount to his submission to assessability. If the assessment order becomes final it may be said that he is barred by estoppel or res judicata from contending in a subsequent proceeding that he was not liable to be assessed at all. In an appeal against the assessment order itself there is no question of his being barred by estoppel or res judicata. The appeal being from the assessment order there is no question of its being final or operating as res judicata. There is no other doctrine which can be relied upon....

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....tfully agree with the observation of Sir Leonard Stone C.J. and Kania J. in Motor Union Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1945] 13 I.T.R. 272.] at page 283, of Chagla C.J. and Tendolkar J. in Puranmal Radhakishan v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1957] 31 I.T.R.294.] at page 304 and in New India Life Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [[1957] 31 I.T.R. 844.] and of Jagadisan and Srinivasan JJ. in Commissioner of Income- tax v. Sundaram & Company Private Ltd. [[1964] 52 I.T.R. 763.] at pages 759 and 770, that "the word 'thereon' used in section 33(4) only means 'on the appeal', which must mean on the grounds raised in the appeal." In the last case the learned judges observed that "the subject-matter of an appeal.... is that which the Tribunal or the appellate court is called upon to decide and to adjudicate" and that "the subject-matter cannot be identified with the grounds raised either by the appellant or by the respondent." By its order an appellate court can dispose of the appeal and not something not included within its scope. In the department's appeal for an increase in the assessable income the only question for its considerat....

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.... of the assessments, he held against the assessee. Revenue preferred an appeal before the Tribunal, where the assessee - Respondent without filing an appeal, relied upon Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules and raised the legal issue of the validity of assessments before the Tribunal. Despite objections from the Revenue, the Tribunal permitted the assessee to raise such contentions and ultimately held that the notice for reopening of assessment was bad in law. When the matter travelled to the High Court, the question arose as to whether the Tribunal was right in law by allowing Respondent - assessee to raise question of validity of notices for reopening of assessments taking the recourse of Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules without assessee having filed cross appeal or cross objection before the Tribunal against order of Commissioner (Appeals). Examining this question, the High Court,relying upon the decision of Gujarat High Court in Dahod Sahakari Kharid Vechan Sangh Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income Tax, 2005 149 Taxman 456 (Gujarat), held as under: 9. This Rule thus provides that the respondent, though he may not have appealed, may support the order appealed against on any of the grounds dec....

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....bstance in this objection, because the respondent is entitled to canvass the correctness of findings against it in order to support the decree that has been passed against the appellant. 13. Likewise, in case of S. Nazeer Ahmed v. State Bank of Mysore AIR 2007 SCW 766 it was held and observed as under: "7. The High Court, in our view, was clearly in error in holding that the appellant not having filed a memorandum of cross-objections in terms of Order XLI Rule 22 of the Code, could not challenge the finding of the trial court that the suit was not barred by Order II Rule 2 of the Code. The respondent in an appeal is entitled to support the decree of the trial court even by challenging any of the findings that might have been rendered by the trial court against himself. For supporting the decree passed by the trial court, it is not necessary for a respondent in the appeal, to file a memorandum of cross-objections challenging a particular finding that is rendered by the trial court against him when the ultimate decree itself is in his favour. A memorandum of cross-objections is needed only if the respondent claims any relief which had been negatived to him by the tr....

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....l presented within the period of limitation prescribed under sub-section (3). Therefore, on a plain reading of the provision, it transpires that a party has been granted an option or a discretion to file cross objection. 19. In case a party having succeeded before Commissioner (Appeals) opts not to file cross objection even when an appeal has been preferred by the other party, from that it is not possible to infer that the said party has accepted the order or the part thereof which was against the respondent. The Tribunal has, in the present case, unfortunately drawn such an inference which is not supported by the plain language employed by the provision. 20. If the inference drawn by the Tribunal is accepted as a correct proposition, it would render Rule 27 of the Tribunal Rules redundant and nugatory. It is not possible to interpret the provision in such manner. Any interpretation placed on a provision has to be in harmony with the other provisions under the Act or the connected Rules and an interpretation which makes other connected provisions otiose has to be to avoided. Rule 27 of the Tribunal Rules is clear and unambiguous. The right granted to the responden....

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.... decided against him. The Appellant - assessee, as a Respondent before the ITAT was entitled to agitate the jurisdictional issue relating to the validity of the reassessment proceedings. We are, therefore, of the considered opinion that the impugned order passed by the ITAT suffers from perversity in so far as it refused to allow the Appellant - assessee (Respondent before the Tribunal) to urge the grounds by way of an oral application under Rule 27. The question of law as framed is answered in favour of the Appellant - assessee and resultantly the impugned order is set aside. The matter is remanded back before the ITAT with a direction to hear the matter afresh by allowing the Appellant-assessee to raise the additional grounds, under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules, pertaining to issues relating to the assumption of jurisdiction and the validity of the reassessment proceedings under Section 153C of the Act. 27. The appeal is allowed in the above terms." 19. In view of the detailed reasoning given by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case cited (supra), we respectfully following the same, admit the ground raised by the assessee challenging the validity of approval of ....

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....sed by the assessee in the cross objection challenging the validity of approval given by the Ld. Addl. CIT in a mechanical manner and without application of mind, for which the assessment order according to the ld. Counsel for the assessee is void-ab-initio. We find some force in the above argument of the ld. Counsel for the assessee. A perusal of the details received by the assessee from the Department under RTI vide application u/s 6(3) of the R.T.I Act, 2005 shows that the Assessing Officer sought approval of the Addl. CIT on 28.03.2013 in respect of the following cases, the details of which are placed at page no. 6 of the paper book and which are as under:- 33. We find the Addl. CIT vide his approval dated 28.03.2013 has given approval, the copy of which is placed in the paper book at page, 5 which is as under:- 34. We find the Ld. CIT(A) has reproduced the remand report of the Assessing Officer where the Assessing Officer while giving his comments about the addition on account of unsecured loan has given the following report:- "2. Unsecured loans During the year the assessee has received Rs.15,06,50,000/- as unsecured loan from following par....

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....he income of the assessee. On this issue the assessee submission is as under: "total interest payable to M/s Swam Software Ltd. was Rs. 7,48,510/- on which a TDS of Rs. 1,54,193/- has been deducted and duly deposited in Central Govt, account. This is only a matter of accounting presentation, instead of crediting the gross interest first and debiting the TDS amount: the net interest has been directly credited to the party a/ c and the TDS as deducted above, has been shown in the narration. The TDS was deducted and deposited as evident from the bank statement. Additional evidences may be considered on merits subject to recommendation made regarding the admissibility of additional evidences in of para 2. 36. A perusal of the approval sought by the Assessing Officer shows that he has requested to grant necessary approval u/s 153D for the cases completed u/s 153A/143(3) of the Act. A combined perusal of the approval sought by the Assessing Officer, the approval given by the Addl. CIT and the copy of remand report of the Assessing Officer show that there is only some namesake approval given by the Addl. CIT on the very same day on which the Assessing Officer so....

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.... 19.01.2021 and other order of co-ordinate benches of ITAT and finally drawn conclusion in para 21 & 22, which read as follows:- 21. Since, the Assessing Officer has sought approval u/s 153D of the Act in the case of assessee from Assessment Years 2005-06 to 2011-12, therefore, in view of our order in ITA No.2399/Del/2016 and Cross Objection No.222/Del/2016 in assessee's own case for Assessment Year 2009-10 reproduced above, we hold that the assessment orders are vitiated for want of valid approval u/s 153D of the Act and as such no addition could be made against the assessee. We, therefore, quash the assessment orders passed u/s 153A of the Act for both the years, resultantly, all additions are deleted. The ground raised by the assessee under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules is accordingly allowed. 22. Since, the assessee succeeds on his legal ground, the grounds raised by the Revenue challenging the additions on merit are not being adjudicated being academic in nature. 15. Undisputedly, search was conducted on various entities of Dabas group including Subhash Dabas proprietor of Tirupati Construction Company and Tirupati Building & Offices Pvt. Ltd. i.e. present ass....

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....023. ============= Document 1 Office of the Dy. Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Circle-09, Room No. 357, ARA Centre, E-2, Jhandewalan, New Delhi-110055. F.No. DCIT/CC-09/11-12/1737 To The Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Range-4, P+ 1 Dated:-28.03.2013 Sir. New Delhi. Sub: Approval u/s 153D of the I.T. Act, 1961 for framing assessment u/s 153A/143(3)-regarding-(Jagat Group & Others). Kindly refer to above. Kindly find enclosed herewith the draft assessment orders in the following cases as per details given below for your kind consideration:- Sl. Name of assessee No. 1 Subhash Dabas Prop. 2 Tirupati Construction Co. Rosy Dabas 3 Tirupati Constwell Pvt. Ltd. 4 Tirupati Buildings & Offices (P) Ltd. 5 Ayush Dabas PAN Assessment Year AFDPD9368Q A.Y. 2005-06 to 2011-12 - Dropped assessment year ACEPD8776F AACCT2478E AACCT7060] ALCPD9217B A.Y. 2005-06 to 2011-12 A.Y. 2006-07 to 2011-12 A.Y. 2007-08 to 2011-12 A.Y. 2008-09 to 2011-12 - A.Y. 2005-06 A.Y. 2005-06 & 2006-07 A.Y. 2005-06- 2007-08 You are requested to....