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Facts
The Revenue appealed against orders of the CIT(A) which deleted quantum additions and penalties. The Assessing Officer (AO) and CIT(A) had passed orders at Surat. The assessee contended that the ITAT Surat Bench had territorial jurisdiction, not Ahmedabad.
Held
The Tribunal held that territorial jurisdiction for adjudication lies with the bench where the AO passed the order, even if case records were transferred under Section 127 of the Income Tax Act. Since the AO and CIT(A) orders were passed at Surat, the appeals were wrongly filed before the Ahmedabad benches.
Key Issues
Whether the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Ahmedabad Bench has territorial jurisdiction to hear appeals when the Assessing Officer and CIT(A) orders were passed at Surat, despite the transfer of case records.
Sections Cited
271D, 271E, 127
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” BENCH, AHMEDABAD
Before: Shri Sanjay Garg & Shri Narendra Prasad Sinha
Consolidated Appeals (2)
Per Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member:
The captioned appeals have been preferred by the Revenue against the separate orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Surat [hereinafter referred to as ‘CIT(A)’]. relating to Assessment Year (AY) 2014-15, for AY 2013-14 and ITA No.60/Ahd/2025 for AY 2011-12 are against the action of the CIT(A)- & five Others ACIT vs. Ashokbhai Jagubhai Kheni Asst. Years :2014-15 & 2013-14 & 2011-12 2 Surat in deleting the quantum additions, whereas, for AY 2011-12 is in relation to penalty levied by the Assessing Officer (AO) u/s.271D of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) and ITA Nos.1256 & 1257/Ahd/2025 for AYs 2011-12 & 2013-14 respectively are against the action of the CIT(A) in deleting the penalty levied by the AO u/s.271E of the Act.
At the outset, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee has invited our attention to the impugned orders of the AO to submit that the assessment orders/penalty orders in all these appeals were passed by the Dy.CIT, Central Circle-2, Surat and even the impugned appellate orders have also been passed by Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-4 Surat. He, therefore, has submitted that territorial jurisdiction to adjudicate these appeals against the impugned orders of the CIT(A) lies with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Surat Bench and not ITAT Ahmedabad Benches.
The Ld.DR has relied upon a letter of the Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, Central Circle-1(3), Ahmedabad, wherein it has been pointed out that after passing of the impugned orders of the CIT(A), case records pertaining to assessee have been transferred to the jurisdiction of Dy.CIT, Central Circle-1(3). Ahmedabad. He, therefore, has submitted that the captioned appeals have been rightly filed before the Ahmedabad Benches of the Tribunal.
We have heard the rival contentions and gone through the record. The issue has been settled by the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs. ABC Papers Ltd. (2022 SSC online SC 1036) decided on 18/08/2022, wherein, the Hon’ble Supreme Court categorically held that even if the case records have been transferred to a & five Others ACIT vs. Ashokbhai Jagubhai Kheni Asst. Years :2014-15 & 2013-14 & 2011-12 3 different jurisdiction by exercise of powers by the competent Income-tax Authority u/s.127 of the Income Tax Act, the territorial jurisdiction for adjudication of the appeals in respect of ITAT and Hon’ble High Courts would lie within whose jurisdiction the AO has passed the order. It has also been held that this principle will be applicable even in case of transfer of the records u/s.127 of the Income Tax Act, for the same assessment year. In the case in hand, admittedly, the impugned assessment orders as well as the first appellate orders have been passed by the AO and the CIT(A) at Surat. Therefore, the territorial jurisdiction to adjudicate these appeals lies with the ITAT Bench at Surat. The present appeals, therefore, have been wrongly filed before the Ahmedabad Benches of this Tribunal and, therefore, the same are, not maintainable being outside the territorial jurisdiction of this Tribunal. Therefore, all the captioned appeals are hereby dismissed as not maintainable, however, with the liberty to Revenue to file these appeals before the ITAT Benches of competent territorial jurisdiction. The time consumed in prosecuting the present appeals i.e. from the date of filing of these appeals at ITAT Ahmedabad Benches till the date of communication of this order and further a period of 30 days thereafter, will not be considered for the purpose of limitation period, if the revenue chooses to file fresh appeals as noted above.
With the above observations, all the six appeals of the Revenue are hereby dismissed. Order pronounced in the Open Court 18/08/2025.