M/S. SUNRAJ ENTERPRISES,MUMBAI vs. CIT (APPEALS) - 1, THANE, THANE

Brief facts of the case are, the assessee filed appeal before the CIT(A)-1, Thane against the order passed u/s 200A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short ‘Act’). After filing the appeal before the Ld. CIT(A), the assessee filed letter dated 10.12.2019 requesting for withdrawal of the appeal in AYs under appeal i.e. 2013-14, 2014-15 & 2015-16. Based on the above letter of withdrawal, the Ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee as withdrawn being infructuous. Now, the assessee filed appeal before us with the plea that the assessee has withdrawn the appeal before CIT(A)-1, Thane due to mistake of staff of Chartered Accountant. The staff noticed by mistake that there is no penalty listed on late filing of TDS in the TRACES. However, later it was found by the assessee that it is a mistake on the part of staff of the Chartered Accountant and noticed that the demand was still alive. In this regard, the assessee also filed an affidavit from the staff of Chartered Accountant i.e. Mr. Pratik Chandrakant Chavan.

Considering the above facts on record, we observed that the assessee has withdrawn the appeal filed before Ld. CIT(A) with mistaken belief that the late fee levied by the Department is deleted. However, the Department has not deleted the late fees in the case of the assessee. Since, the staff of the Chartered Accountant wrongly noticed that waiver of the fees of the another client and by mistake advised the same to the Chartered Accountant and the assessee. At the advice of the Chartered Accountant, the assessee has withdrawn the appeal on mistaken belief that there is no demand. For the sake of justice, we deem it fit and proper to remit this issue back to the file of the CIT(A) to consider the issue and decide the issue on merit. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.

Facts are being identical, our decision for the AY 2013-14 applies mutatis mutandis to AYs. 2014-15 & 2015-16. 6. In the result, the appeals filed by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open Court on 24/11/2021. Sd/- Sd/- (C.N. PRASAD) (S. RIFAUR RAHMAN) JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Mumbai; Dated: 24/11/2021 Rahul Sharma, Sr. P.S. Copy of the Order forwarded to :