DCIT, CENTRAL CIRCLE-1(1), AHMEDABAD vs. DHARMESH KALIDAS PATEL, AHMEDABAD

At the outset, Ld. Sr. DR, appearing for the Revenue, submitted that as per Form No.36, clause No.10, the tax effect in this appeal is Rs.55,46,468/- which is below Rs.60 lakhs as prescribed under the new CBDT Circular No. 09/2024 dated 17.09.2024. Following the same, the appeal filed by the Department is liable to be dismissed. Recording the same, the Department’s appeal in is hereby dismissed.

The brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual deriving income from house property business, capital gain and other sources. The assessee filed his original return of income on 31.10.2017 declaring total income of Rs.50,810/- for the year under consideration. The return was selected for scrutiny assessment. The Assessing Officer made addition on account of unsecured loans totaling to Rs.1,77,35,750/- from various parties on the ground that the assessee failed to provide the details of the creditors viz. names, address, PAN and ITR details. The Assessing Officer also made addition of Rs.20,42,336/- being the agricultural income, considering it as unexplained money u/s 69A of the Act, and demanded taxes thereon.

On appeal before the Ld. CIT(A), major cash creditors’ accounts, except in the case of Krunal A. Vyas (Rs.1,50,000/-), Kalpesh R. Patel (Rs.10,00,000/-) and Sonal K. Patel (Rs.12,70,640/-), were confirmed by the Ld. CIT(A) after getting two remand reports from the Assessing Officer.

During the course of hearing, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee filed a paper-book relating to three unsecured creditors wherein bank statements and ITR acknowledgements are filed for the first time before this Tribunal. The Ld. Counsel pleaded that the above crucial documents could not be produced before the Assessing Officer, since the creditors were not readily available to produce the above documents. Therefore, invoking Rule 29 of Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee sought permission to entertain the additional evidences filed by the assessee.

Ld. Sr. DR has no objection in entertaining the new additional documents; however, pleaded that the matter may be set aside to the file of the Assessing Officer for verification of the same.

We have given out thoughtful consideration and perused the material available on record, including the additional documents filed by the assessee. Since the additional documents are filed for the first time before the Tribunal, we deem it fit to set aside the matter back to the file of the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer to consider the same and make assessment in accordance with law. The assessee also submitted before us that the major portion of loans have already been & 289/Ahd/2021 Dharmesh Kalidas Patel Vs. DCIT (Cross) AY : 2017-18 4 repaid by the assessee. Therefore, it is open for the Assessing Officer to verify the same and pass order in accordance with law. Thus, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.

In the result, the appeal filed by the Revenue is dismissed, whereas the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.