TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (5) TMI 595
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....ssessing Officer u/s 270A of the Act. For the sake of convenience, all these appeals were heard together and are being disposed of by this common order. ITA No.44/PUN/2026 (A.Y. 2022-23) 2. Facts of the case, in brief, are that the assessee is a body of individuals and had filed its return of income for the year under consideration declaring total income of Rs. 6,09,420/-. The case was selected for scrutiny under CASS. Accordingly, statutory notice u/s 143(2) of the Act was issued and served on the assessee. Thereafter, notice u/s 142(1) of the Act along with a questionnaire was issued and served on the assessee. However, there was no response from the side of the assessee for which the Assessing Officer completed the assessment u/s 144 r.w.s. 144B of the Act and made addition of Rs. 1,25,13,425/- by rejecting the claim of deduction u/s 80P of the Act. 3. Since there was a delay in filing of the appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC by 299 days, the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC did not condone the delay on the ground that the assessee failed to give sufficient reason for not filing the appeal within the prescribed time frame. He, therefore, dismissed the appeal in limine. 4. Aggriev....
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.... / NFAC with a direction to condone the delay in filing of the appeal and decide the issue on merit. 6. The Ld. DR on the other hand heavily relied on the order of the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC. 7. We have heard the rival arguments made by both the sides, perused the orders of the Assessing Officer and the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC and the paper book filed on behalf of the assessee. We have also considered the various decisions cited before us. It is an admitted fact that due to late filing of the appeal by 299 days, the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC did not admit the appeal holding that the assessee failed to give sufficient reason for the delay in filing of the appeal. It is the submission of the Ld. Counsel for the assessee that the delay in filing of the appeal was not intentional but due to mailing of the assessment order to the e-mail ID of one of the employees who had left the service and did not inform the assessee for which there was delay in filing of the appeal. 8. We find the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Collector, Land Acquisition vs. Mst. Katiji & Ors. reported in 167 ITR 471 (SC) has held that when substantial justice and technical considerations are pitted against each oth....
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....issue of levy of penalty u/s 270A of the Act also to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC with a direction to condone the delay in filing of the appeal and decide the issue on merit. The grounds raised by the assessee are accordingly allowed for statistical purposes. ITA No.45/PUN/2026 (A.Y. 2020-21) 12. After hearing both the sides, we find the Assessing Officer in the order passed u/s 143(3) of the Act disallowed the claim of deduction u/s 80P of the Act amounting to Rs. 1,33,50,608/- and thereafter initiated penalty proceedings u/s 270A of the Act. In absence of any response from the side of the assessee, the Assessing Officer levied penalty of Rs. 22,82,973/- u/s 270A of the Act. 13. In appeal, the Ld. CIT(A) / NFAC sustained the penalty levied by the Assessing Officer by observing as under: I have carefully gone through the grounds of appeal, statement of facts, penalty order and other material on record. I find that during the course of quantum assessment proceedings, addition of Rs. 1,33,50,608/- was made on account of failure of the appellant to explain the deduction claimed u/s 80P of the Act. Accordingly, penalty proceeding u/s 270A were initiated for under....
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.... provisions and judicial pronouncements, the learned AO erred in levying penalty of Rs. 22,82,973/- u/s 270A and the learned CIT (A) erred in confirming the same. 3. The learned AO has erred in upholding and concluding that there is under reporting of income in Assessee's case. 4. The penalty order and proceedings suffer from limb issue and lack of proper satisfaction. 5. The learned CIT Appeals erred in dismissing Assessee's appeal for non-submission and without going into merits of the case The appellate proceedings, thus, suffer from principles of natural justice and needs to be set aside. 6. The Assessee Society prays before your honour to afford and allow it an opportunity of being heard on merits of the case before the lower authorities. 7. The penalty levied by the AO on issue of disallowance of deduction claimed by assessee u/s 80P(2) in respect of interest earned on FDs with Coop banks is not sustainable and valid. Further the NFAC has also erred in sustaining the said levy of penalty since appeal of assessee was decided in its favour by the Pune tribunal judgments by allowing deduction u/s 80P. Thus, no penalty can be l....
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....s 80P(2), the Tribunal vide ITA No.1391/PUN/2024 order dated 24.03.2025 allowed the deduction u/s 80P of the Act to the extent of Rs. 1,32,41,080/- and confirmed the disallowance of Rs. 1,09,529/- by observing as under: "7. We have heard rival contentions and perused the records placed before us. We observe that the assessee which is a co-operative society has declared income of Rs. 3,92,570/- after claiming deduction u/s 80P at Rs. 1,33,50,608/-. We also observe that during the year the assessee society has earned interest income of Rs. 18,96,95,893/- and has made interest payments of Rs. 13,78,57,308/-. Further, the net total income of Rs. 1,37,43,180/- has been assessed after considering the interest income earned from surplus funds deposited with cooperative banks at Rs. 4,15,27,813/-. We observe that since the cooperative banks are basically cooperative societies, therefore, the interest earned from cooperative banks are clearly eligible for deduction u/s 80P(2)(d) of the Act and this view has been consistently followed by the Co-ordinate Bench of Tribunal in plethora of decisions including that of Samarth Nagari Shakari Path Sanstha Maryadit (supra) and The Ugar Suga....