TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 1573
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....t for a period of time as he was suffering through major medical issues, making it difficult to prepare and submit the appeal within the deadline. 2. Additionally, I was out of town during the critical period, which further delayed the filing. I kindly request the Hon'ble Tribunal to condone this delay and allow my appeal to be heard on its merits. The delay was unintentional, and I assure you that I have made every effort to file the appeal at the earliest possible opportunity. Thanking you for your understanding and Co-operation," 3. After hearing both the sides and perusing the averments made in the condonation application, we are satisfied that there was 'reasonable cause' which prevented the assessee to file the appeal within the stipulated time. We note that the assessee would not have gained from filing the appeal with a delay. We therefore in light of judgments of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Collector, Land Acquisition, Anantnag & Anr. Vs. Mst. Katiji & Ors. reported in (1987) 2 SCC 107 and in the case of Inder Singh Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh judgment dated 21.03.2025 (2025 INSC 382) condone the delay of 23 days in filing the appeal....
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.... to Section 263(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, once an appeal is pending before the Ld. CIT(A), the PCIT has no jurisdiction to revise the same matter. Furthermore, the Ld. PCIT erred in law by invoking Section 263 based on a mere change of opinion on the additions made by the Ld. AO, without demonstrating any error that is prejudicial to the interest of revenue, as required by law. Such an action is legally unsustainable & bad in law, 8. Your appellant prays leave to produce such other evidence as may be necessary to substantiate its case. The appellant craves leave to add, amend, modify, or delete any of the grounds of appeal at or before the hearing." 5. From the above grounds of appeal, we find that though the assessee has raised as many as Eight grounds of appeal but all are against the order assuming jurisdiction by ld. PCIT u/s. 263 of the Act setting aside the assessment order for A.Y. 2020-21 dated 12.09.2022 on the sole issue about the addition towards unexplained Agricultural Receipts at Rs. 38,46,424/- and unexplained Agricultural Expenditure at Rs. 4,36,820/- has been wrongly added by the ld. Assessing Officer by treating as 'Income from ....
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....nged the addition made by ld. AO before ld.CIT(A) and the same is still pending for adjudication. However, ld. PCIT was not satisfied with these submissions and he directed the ld. AO to carry out the assessment proceedings on the issues dealt in the impugned order and relevant finding of ld.PCIT reads as under : "06. I have carefully gone through the facts of the case, the Assessment record and the submissions made by the assessee during the revision proceedings u/s 263 Act. Section 68 of the Act mandates that if any credit appears in the books of an assessee, and the assessee fails to satisfactorily explain the nature and source of such credit, the amount is treated as income of the assessee. Similarly, section 69C of the Act mandates that if any expenditure is incurred in the books of an assessee, and the assessee fails to satisfactorily explain the nature and source of such expenditure, the amount is treated as income of the assessee. With the introduction of Section 115BBE, such unexplained credits are taxed at a higher rate from AY 2013-14. 07. From the above, it is clear that the addition made by the AO was in relation to the agriculture income of Rs. 38,46....
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....nd made addition on the said issue. 13. We find that the provision of Section 263 of the Act has direct bearing on the issue raised before us, therefore, it is pertinent to take note of this section which reads as under: "263(1) The Commissioner may call for and examine the record of any proceeding under this Act, and if he considers that any order passed therein by the Assessing Officer is erroneous in so far as it is prejudicial to the interests of the revenue, he may, after giving the assessee an opportunity of being heard and after making or causing to be made such inquiry as he deems necessary, pass such order thereon as the circumstances of the case justify, including an order enhancing or modifying the assessment, or cancelling the assessment and directing a fresh assessment. Explanation- For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that, for the purposes of this sub-section,- (a) an order passed on or before or after the 1st day of June, 1988 by the Assessing Officer shall include- (i) an order of assessment made by the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner or the Income-tax Officer on the basis of the directions issued by ....
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....ceedings or during the pendency of those proceedings. On an analysis of the record and of the order passed by the Assessing Officer, he formed an opinion that such an order is erroneous in so far as it is prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue. By this stage the learned Commissioner was not required the assistance of the assessee. Thereafter the third stage would come. The learned Commissioner would issue a show cause notice pointing out the reasons for the formation of his belief that action u/s 263 is required on a particular order of the Assessing Officer. At this stage the opportunity to the assessee would be given. The learned Commissioner has to conduct an inquiry as he may deem fit. After hearing the assessee, he will pass the order. This is the 4th compartment of this section. The learned Commissioner may annul the order of the Assessing Officer. He may enhance the assessed income by modifying the order. He may set aside the order and direct the Assessing Officer to pass a fresh order. At this stage, before considering the multi-fold contentions of the ld. Representatives, we deem it pertinent to take note of the fundamental tests propounded in various judgments releva....
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....ceipts were shown at Rs. 53,02,491/- and the same included the receipt from sale of sugarcane to Udgir Sugar and Power Ltd. at Rs. 14,56,067/- and ld. AO has accepted the said sale. For the remaining sales, necessary Agricultural Receipts were provided but not to the satisfaction of ld. AO. Further, ld. AO also asked about the detail of expenses incurred for carrying out the Agricultural activities. Vide reply dated 22.03.2022, assessee answered to all these queries which ld. AO had captured in the assessment order and is available in para 9 which reads as under : "9 In response to the above show cause notice, the assessee has filed reply on 22/03/2022 which is reproduced as under: ".......This has reference to Limited Scrutiny Notice U/s 143 (2) dated 29/06/2021 bearing No. ITBA/AST/S/143 (2)/2021-22/10337 59438 (1), and subsequent Notice u/s 142(1), bearing No. ITBA/AST/F/142(1)/2021-22/L037 tso 531 (1) dated 23.11.2021 issued by Your Honour in case of above named assessee, for assessment year 2020-21. Copy of both the Notices are enclosed herewith for Your ready reference' sir, as per the Notice u/s 143(2), the Limited scrutiny has been initiated with regar....
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....d through banking channels in the Bank account maintained with Sangli Co-operative Bank b) Sale of other products through APIYC - Rs. 9,37,791/- payments for which were received through Banking Channels in Shirgoan (Visapur) Credit Co-operative Society, from which the assessee has taken Agricultural Loan and Car Loan. c) Sale of other products through APMC - Rs. 3,90,711/- payments for which were received through Banking Channels, in the Bank account maintained with Sangli Co-operative Bank d) Sum of Rs. 22,335/- subsidy received from Government and directly deposited in the Bank account maintained with Sangli Co-operative Bank e) Sum of Rs. 26,22,000/- has been received on account of sale in Market. As a policy matter the cash sale proceeds are immediately deposited in Bank. 9) As stated above, the assessee has only two source of income. Thus all the Amount deposited in sanagri co-operative Bank constitute only agricultural income. The assessee does not have any other source of income, which he has shown, in the grab of agricultural income, to avoid tax. In support of our contention, we are enclosing herewith: 1) Copy of Financ....
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....ssee failed to produce evidence of agricultural expenses also. 10. In the meantime, the statutory time limitation for completion of assessment proceedings has been extended from the end of March, 2022 to the end of September, 2022. Therefore, another show cause was issued on 22/08/2022 to submit any other details in response to the show cause notice. The assessee has not filed any reply till date. Therefore, the reply filed by the assessee on 16/02/2022 has been taken into consideration. 11. On verification of ledger for sale of sugarcane sold to Udgir Sugar and Power Ltd. It is noticed that the assessee has received income of Rs. 14,56,067/- on account of sale of sugarcare. The said income was mistakenly mentioned as Rs. 13,29,654/- in the show-cause notices instead of correct income of Rs. 14.56.067/-. Thus, the unexplained agricultural income will be Rs. 38,46,424/- (Rs.53,02,491-14,56,067/-). The above mistake is now duly corrected. As mentioned in the foregoing paras, the assessee has reported agricultural expenses as NIL in the return of income. It is not possible to earn agricultural income without making any expenses. One has to incur agricultural expenses....