AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (2) TMI 284
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....sessee has assailed the impugned order on the following grounds of appeal: "1. That under the facts and the law, the Assessment order is void-ab-initio as the same has been passed without serving Notice u/s.148 and without allowing opportunity to the appellant opportunity to the Appellant to explain the case. 2. That under the facts and the law, the Ld. CIT (Appeals) erred in dismissing the ground that jurisdiction to assess the Appellant lies with the Assessing Officer, Korba and that the transfer of case u/s 127 from Ambikapur to Korba has been made without giving any opportunity to the Appellant. Prayed that the assessment has been made without jurisdiction as the place of business and residence of the Appellant is at Ramanujganj which is far away from Korba. Prayed to annul the Assessment Order. 3. That under the facts and the law, the Ld. CIT (Appeals) erred in dismissing the explanation that the cash deposited Rs.17,05,824 into bank was from business receipts from recharging of Mobile Phones and savings. Prayed to delete the addition of Rs.17,05,824/-. Prayed to delete the addition of Rs.17,05,824/-. 3. Shri G.S. Agrawal, Ld. Au....
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.... his order passed u/s. 127 of the Act, dated 07.09.2018 transferred his case from ITO-1, Ambikapur to ITO-3, Korba without affording any opportunity of being heard to the assessee as was required per the mandate of law; (ii) that the A.O had grossly erred in law and facts of the case in framing the assessment u/s. 144 r.w.s. 147 of the Act in absence of any valid service of notice to the assessee; and (iii) that the A.O had grossly erred in law and facts of the case in treating the entire amount of Rs.17,05,824/- as the assessee's unexplained money u/s. 69A of the Act. However, the CIT(Appeals) did not find favour with the multi-facet contentions that were advanced by the assessee and upheld the addition made by him, observing as under: "7. Discussion and Decision I have gone through the Grounds of Appeal, Statement of Facts, assessment order, written submission along with supporting evidence, remand report of the AO and rejoinder provided by the appellant. The grounds of appeal filed by the appellant are being adjudicated are as under:- 7.1. Ground No. 01: The appellant has raised legal ground and has submitted in the appellate proceedings that ....
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....the address on which the letters/orders sent, returned by India post with the remark as addressee not found. The AO also stated if the address is not correct or the appellant is not found to reside at the address available with the department, it is the appellant who had to change the address in e-filing portal, In this case the appellant failed to appellant had also not given his digital footprint his filing portal. That's why all the do so. Further the correspondences were made through the postal department on the address available with the department. 7.3.2 Reliance is placed on the Order of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of PCIT Vs. Iven Interactive Limited, 2019 418 ITR 662 (SC) wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed as follows. "Mere mentioning of the new address in the return of income without specifically intimating the Assessing Officer with respect to change of address and without getting the PAN database changed, is not enough and sufficient. In absence of any specific intimation to the Assessing Officer with respect to change in address and/or change in the name of the assessee, the Assessing Officer would be justified in sending the....
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....bank neither provided the statement nor replied any response. Consequently, the AO passed assessment order u/s 144 r.w.s. 147 of the Act on 16.12.2008 assessing a total income of Rs. 17,05,824/- u/s 69A as unexplained income/money. 7.4.2. During the appellate proceedings, the appellant submitted response in which the appellant stated that he derived income from distributorship of recharge coupon and talk time coupon sale of Vodafone Cellular Co. Ltd. Further, he stated that the basic business model of mobile recharge business that local shops/Pan thela/Grumitwala and small retailers purchase talk time balance coupon "Known as Top-up from appellant and pay cash to the distributer. These retailers further recharge this value to Vodafone customers according to their needs say Rs. 10 to Rs. 2000 via scratch coupon or direct from mobile recharge method. At the end of day the appellant staffs collect cash from retailer and then deposited to bank account which is then further remitted through NEFT/RTGS to Vodafone Cellular Co. designated account. The Vodafone do gives commission to distributor for this service and deducts TDS as per provisions of Income Tax Act. Since Vodafone Es....
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....t to establish the source of cash deposited beyond doubt the appellant has failed to discharge his onus in the assessment proceedings and appellate proceedings as well. Only submitting self-serving cash book and bank book is not sufficient to discharge the onus on the appellant in absence to supporting evidence to establish the source of cash deposited. The appellate further claimed that he had received commission from M/s. Vodafone Essar for retail marketing. However, on verification of 26AS, no such commission income was found received by the appellant. Thus, the genuineness of the cash deposit transactions cannot be conclusive found established or couldn't be verified based on submission made by the appellant in absence of any supporting concrete evidence. 7.4.5. Considering the above facts and circumstances, I am of the view that the appellant's supporting evidence does not substantiate the claim of the appellant at any stage. The appellant was given adequate and sufficient opportunities to prove genuineness of these transactions during the assessment proceedings, appellate proceedings and remand report but he failed to do so. The submission made during the appella....
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....r having been passed by the Pr. CIT u/s. 127 of the Act before the CIT(Appeals), but the latter had refrained from dealing with the same for the reason, that he was not the appropriate forum to challenge the order passed by the Pr. CIT-1, Bilaspur u/s. 127 of the Act. The Ld. AR had taken me through the observations of the CIT(Appeals) at Para 7.2.1. of his order. The Ld. AR submitted that as the assessee had not assailed before the CIT(Appeals) the order passed by the Pr. CIT-1, Bilaspur u/s. 127 of the Act but the validity of the jurisdiction that was assumed by the A.O for framing the impugned assessment vide his order passed u/s. 144 r.w.s. 147 of the Act, dated 16.12.2018 in absence of a valid order of transfer u/s. 127 of the Act, therefore, the CIT(Appeals) was obligated to have adjudicated the said grievance. 11. Smt. Anubhha Tah Goel, Ld. Sr. Departmental Representative (for short 'DR') relied on the orders of the lower authorities. The Ld. DR pursuant to the direction of the Tribunal had placed on record a report of the A.O. The Ld. DR submitted that the A.O. i.e. ITO-1, Ambikapur had filed his report dated 09.01.2025, wherein it is stated by him that the order passed ....
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.... of the respective offers were situated in different cities, had failed to afford an opportunity of being heard to him while passing the order of transfer. Before proceeding any further, it would be apt to cull out the provisions of Section 127 of the Act, which reads as under: "127. (1) The Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reasons for doing so, transfer any case from one or more Assessing Officers subordinate to him (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) to any other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) also subordinate to him. (2) Where the Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers from whom the case is to be transferred and the Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers to whom the case is to be transferred are not subordinate to the same Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Com....
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.... be gathered from sub-section (3) of Section 127 of the Act, in a case where the Pr. CIT transfers the case of as assessee from any Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) to any other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) and the offices of all such officers are not situated in the same city, locality or place., then he remains under a statutory obligation to give an opportunity of being heard to the assessee and only after recording his reasons for doing so, transfer such case from one or more Assessing Officers subordinate to him (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) to any other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) also subordinate to him. As in the case of the present assessee before me, the case of the assessee had been transferred pursuant to the order of the Pr. CIT, Bilaspur dated 07.09.2018 from ITO- 1, Ambikapur to ITO-3, Korba i.e. offices of said officers are not situated in the same city, locality or place, therefore, on a conjoint reading of sub- section (1) and (3) of Section 127 of the Act, he was obl....