THE BEGUSARAI CENTRAL COOPERATIVE BANK LIMITED,BEGUSARAI vs. ITO WARD- 2 (1), BEGUSARAI

Though the assessee has taken seven grounds of appeal, but its grievances revolve around a single issue, namely ld. CIT(Appeals) has erred in confirming the penalty imposed under section 272A(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act.

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee has filed its return of income on 31.03.2015 declaring total income at Rs.13,61,240/-. Thereafter the assessment was reopened by issuance of a notice under section 148 of the Income Tax Act. The ld. Assessing Officer was of the opinion that he had issued notices under section 142(1) on 04.02.2021, 24.02.2021, 28.04.2021, 25.05.2021 and 16.08.2021. These notices were not complied with by the assessee and, therefore, it deserves to be visited with penalty under section 272A(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act. He accordingly imposed a penalty of Rs.50,000/- (Rs.10,000/- for each non-compliance).

Before us, the Registry has reported that appeal is time-barred by 8 days. The assessee has filed application for condonation of delay, wherein it has been pleaded that on account of non-availability of the authorized signatory, the appeal become time-barred by 8 days. After taking into consideration the explanation given by the assessee, we condone the delay and proceed to decide the appeal on merit.

On due consideration of the above facts and circumstances, we are of the view that ld. Assessing Officer has erred in imposing a penalty of Rs.50,000/-. The moment assessee failed to reply one or two notices, then, he should have taken ex-parte proceeding against the assessee instead of issuance of multiple notices and, then imposing multiple penalties. It is also pertinent to observe that the period during which 142(1) notices were issued was a COVID period and it was very difficult for every assessee to give reply. Therefore, we are of the view that there was a justifiable reason at the end of the assessee for not submitting the required details before the ld. Assessing Officer during COVID period. We allow this appeal and delete these penalties.