M/S. R R INDUSTRIES LTD.,CHENNAI vs. DCIT, CENTRAL CIRCLE-1(4), CHENNAI
Facts
The assessee, M/s. RR Industries Ltd., a public limited company engaged in letting industrial park properties, faced penalty proceedings under Section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Years 2008-09 to 2010-11. This stemmed from an assessment completed u/s 153C r.w.s. 153A, where rental receipts were reclassified from 'business income' to 'income from house property', leading to the disallowance of an exemption claimed u/s 10A and a penalty of Rs.30,71,950/- for furnishing inaccurate particulars. The assessee appealed, arguing that the penalty notice issued by the AO was defective as it failed to specify whether the penalty was for concealment of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars.
Held
The Tribunal held that the penalty notice issued under Section 274 r.w.s. 271(1)(c) was defective, vague, and invalid in law because it did not explicitly specify the exact fault (concealment of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars) for which the penalty was initiated. Relying on various High Court decisions, particularly Babuji Jacob (Madras High Court), the Tribunal determined that such a non-specific notice indicated a lack of application of mind by the AO and rendered the penalty untenable. The Tribunal distinguished the Supreme Court's dismissal of SLP in Gangotri Textiles Ltd., stating it did not establish a binding precedent nullifying other High Court decisions, as it was based on peculiar facts and the doctrine of merger was not attracted.
Key Issues
Whether a penalty notice issued under Section 274 r.w.s. 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, is valid if it fails to specifically indicate whether the penalty is for concealment of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars; and whether the Supreme Court's dismissal of an SLP in a similar case nullifies other High Court decisions on defective penalty notices.
Sections Cited
Section 271(1)(c), Section 274, Section 10A, Section 143(3), Section 153C, Section 153A
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, C BENCH: CHENNAI
Before: SHRI ABY T. VARKEY & MS. PADMAVATHY. S
आदेश / O R D E R PER ABY T. VARKEY, JM: These are appeals preferred by the assessee against the order of
the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), (hereinafter in short
‘the Ld.CIT(A)’), Chennai-18, dated 07.08.2025, for the Assessment Year
(hereinafter in short ‘AY’) 2008-09 to 2010-11 confirming the penalty-
imposed u/s.271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred
to as ‘the Act‘).
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Since the facts and issues are same for all the assessment years,
the penalty appeal for AY 2008-09 is taken as the lead case, and the
result of which will be followed for other years/appeals. The main
grievance of the assessee is against the action of the Ld.CIT(A)
confirming the penalty. The assessee is noted to have raised issues on
merits including legal issues and the Ld AR drew our attention to the
grounds/additional grounds of appeal filed before this Tribunal; and he
wants us to examine a legal issue wherein challenge is made to the
notices issued by the AO u/s.274 r.w.s.271(1)(c) of the Act dated
31.03.2015 [for AYs 2008-09 to AY 2010-11] as bad in law being
defective/invalid in law and therefore, according to assessee, the penalty
imposed needs to be quashed.
Brief facts of the case, as taken note from perusal of the penalty
order for the Assessment Year 2008-09, are that the appellant-assessee,
is a public limited company, which is engaged in the business of letting its
properties in industrial park. And it filed its return of income for the
Assessment year 2008-09 on 30.09.2008 admitting income of
Rs.14,09,720/-, which was selected for scrutiny and an order u/s 143(3)
of the Act, dated 18.11.2010 was passed in this case. Later, a search was
conducted in the premises of the MD of the assessee company on
11.10.2012 and certain material relating to the assessee were found and
seized. Consequently, the assessment was completed vide order dated
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31.03.2015 u/s 153C r.w.s. 153A by, inter-alia, treating the rental
receipts offered under 'business income' as 'income from house property'
and thereby disallowing exemption claimed u/s 10A of Rs.90,37,808/-.
Consequently, penalty proceedings u/s 271(1)(c) were also initiated by
the AO. The quantum assessment was taken up in first appeal by the
assessee and the issue of treating rental income from IT Park as business
income and consequently the claim of exemption u/s 10A was allowed in
favour of the Assessee by the Ld CIT(A)- 18, Chennai by order dt
27.09.2017. The Revenue filed appeal before this Tribunal, on the issue of
claim of exemption u/s 10A of the Act. And the Tribunal vide its order
[ITA No.271/Chny/2018 dt:30.07.2019] allowed the appeal of Revenue
with respect to exemption u/s 10A, and dismissed the Cross objection
[(CO) No 45/Chny/2018] filed by the Assessee. Later, the Assessee has
filed appeal before Hon'ble Madras High Court, which was admitted on
20.12.2019, against the Tribunal order and is pending. Meanwhile, the AO
for the relevant assessment year issued penalty notice u/s.271(1)(c) of
the Act on 31.03.2015, which later concluded on 24.03.2020 by the AO
passing the order imposing penalty on the ground that the assessee had
furnished inaccurate particulars of income with regard to the deduction of
Rs.90,37,808/-claimed u/s 10A of the Act and thereby levied penalty u/s
271(1)(c) amounting to Rs.30,71,950/-being 100% of the tax sought to
be evaded. Aggrieved, assessee is noted to have filed appeal before Ld
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CIT(A), who by passing the impugned order has confirmed the penalty.
Aggrieved, the assessee-company is before this Tribunal.
As noted, the assessee has several issues, but since assessee has
raised the legal issue of AO issuing defective notice, we will deal with it
first. The Ld.AR drew our attention to the impugned notice issued by the
AO, and pointed out that the AO has not struck down the limbs/faults
which are not applicable in the facts of the assessee’s case for levy of
penalty. In other words, the AO erred in imposing penalty u/s.271(1)(c)
of the Act, without specifically mentioning in the impugned notice u/s.274
r.w.s. 271(1)(c) of the Act, what specific fault/infraction assessee should
defend against the proposed penalty 271(1)(c) i.e. whether the assessee
furnished inaccurate particulars of his income, or concealed the
particulars of his income, without which the impugned notice is bad in law
for being vague/arbitrary and not issued without application of mind. In
order to buttress his arguments, he has cited the case-law/decision of the
Hon’ble jurisdictional Madras High Court in the case of Babuji Jacob
reported in 430 ITR 259 (Madras), wherein, in on an identical case,
penalty was levied by the AO u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act; and the assessee
challenged the imposition of penalty, inter alia, on the ground that the
notice issued by AO u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act, in the printed form without
specifically mentioning whether the proposed penalty was initiated for
concealment of particulars of income or on account of furnishing of
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inaccurate particulars of income, was bad in law; and the Hon’ble Madras
High Court answered the question in favor of assessee and held that such
an omission/failure on the part of AO, to specify the fault in the notice is
legally untenable and such notice is defective and invalid. Therefore, Ld
AR, urged that since AO had issued the impugned notice for captioned
assessment years [AYs] without striking down the inapplicable portion in
the printed notice, the same was issued without due application of mind
and suffers for being vague; and due to omission on the part of AO to
spell out clearly the infraction for which assessee was called upon to
explain/defend, the assessee didn’t know what was the charge/fault, the
AO had in mind, to levy penalty u/s 271(1)(c) of the Act, therefore the
impugned notice is bad in law and therefore the penalty levied needs to
be deleted. The Ld.AR also relied on the following case laws:
CIT vs Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (2013) 359 ITR 565 (Kar) 2. CIT, Bangalore Vs. SSA Emerald Meadows (2016) 73 Taxmann.com 241 (Kar.) 3. Babuji Jacob reported in 430 ITR 259 (Madras-HC) 4. Mohd. Farhan A. Shaikh v. ACIT (2021) 434 ITR 1 (FB) (Bom) (HC) 5. Per contra, the Ld.DR supported the action of the Ld.CIT(A) and has
assailed the plea of the Ld.AR of the assessee for cancelling penalty levied
u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act on the ground that the notice issued u/s.274
r.w.s.271(1)(c) of the Act was defective and invalid for the failure on the
part of the AO not striking down the limbs/fault for levying penalty.
According to the Ld.DR, the plea of the assessee is erroneous since the
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Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. v. DCIT
reported in [2022] 137 taxmann.com 198 (SC), has confirmed the action
of the Hon’ble Madras High Court repelling similar grounds raised by the
assessee that notice issued before penalty was levied u/s.271(1)(c) of the
Act was invalid since the notice issued by the AO [u/s.274 r.w.s.271(1)(c)
of the Act] had reflected both the two (2) limbs of Clause (c) of Section
271(1) of the Act. Further, according to the Ld.DR, since the decision of
the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. (supra)
has been rendered in the year 2022, it nullifies the following other
decisions cited by the assessee before this Tribunal:
CIT vs Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (2013) 359 ITR 565 (Kar) 2. CIT, Bangalore Vs. SSA Emerald Meadows (2016) 73 Taxmann.com 241 (Kar.) 3. Babuji Jacob reported in 430 ITR 259 (Madras-HC) 4. Mohd. Farhan A. Shaikh v. ACIT (2021) 434 ITR 1 (FB) (Bom) (HC)
Further, she cited the decision of the Hon’ble Madras High Court in
the case of Sundaram Finance Ltd. v. DCIT reported in [2018] 403 ITR
107 (Madras) wherein, the assessee had raised similar grounds (defective
notice) was dismissed. And therefore, she wants us to reject the legal
issue raised by the assessee and the grounds of appeal decided on merits
and doesn’t want us to interfere with the order of the Ld.CIT(A).
In his rejoinder, the Ld.AR representing the assessee countering the
submission of Ld DR for Revenue, submitted that the decision of the
Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. was decided
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by the Hon’ble Madras High Court by order dated 25.08.2020 in favour of
the Revenue and the SLP preferred by the assessee has been dismissed
by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, refusing to exercise its powers under
Article 136 of the Constitution and thus, according to him, dismissal of the
SLP was an action without going into the merits of the decision of the
Hon’ble Madras High Court. Therefore, the Ld AR asserted that dismissal
of SLP in limine by passing a non-speaking order without indicating any
reasons for its dismissal implies that the Supreme Court has decided not
to exercise its discretion to hear the appeal filed before it. For such a
proposition, he relied on the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the
case of Kunhayammed v. State of Kerala reported in [2000] 6 SCC 359
(SC), wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed as under:
"A petition for leave to appeal to this Court may be dismissed by a non- speaking order or by a speaking order. Whatever be the phraseology employed in the order of dismissal, if it is a non-speaking order, i.e. it does not assign reasons for dismissing the special leave petition, it would neither attract the doctrine of merger so as to stand substituted in place of the order put in issue before it nor would it be a declaration of law by the Supreme Court under Article 141 of the Constitution for there is no law which has been declared.
...iv) An order refusing special leave to appeal may be a non-speaking order or a speaking one. In either case it does not attract the doctrine of merger. An order refusing special leave to appeal does not stand substituted in place of the order under challenge. All that it means is that the Court was not inclined to exercise its discretion so as to allow the appeal being filed."
Hence, the Ld.AR submitted that the order of the Hon’ble Supreme
Court refusing Special Leave Petition to appeal doesn’t attract the
doctrine of merger and doesn’t substitute in place of the order under
challenge the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in order to be the
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declaration of Law by the Hon’ble Supreme Court under Article 141 of the
Constitution. Therefore, according to the Ld.AR, the dismissal of SLP in
the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd., can’t be said to have nullified the
following other decisions cited in the impugned order of the Tribunal:
CIT vs Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (2013) 359 ITR 565 (Kar) 2. CIT, Bangalore Vs. SSA Emerald Meadows (2016) 73 Taxmann.com 241 (Kar.) 3. Babuji Jacob reported in 430 ITR 259 (Madras-HC) 4. Mohd. Farhan A. Shaikh v. ACIT (2021) 434 ITR 1 ( FB ) (Bom) (HC)
Further, according to the Ld.AR, facts involved in Gangotri Textiles
Ltd. (supra), was clearly distinguishable as discussed infra and therefore,
the decision cannot be said to have judicial precedence to the case in
hand. He pointed out that the Hon’ble Madras High Court in Gangotri
Textiles Ltd. (supra) has clearly found in the facts of that case the
assessee therein had understood the contents/ faults spelt out in the
notices issued u/s.274 r.w.s.271(1)(c) of the Act and observed that there
was indeed concealment of the particulars of income/furnishing of
inaccurate particulars of income. Moreover, in that case, the Hon’ble High
Court noted that the legal ground assailing the defect in the notice was
raised for the first time before it and therefore, declined to entertain the
same by holding that such a ground doesn’t raise a substantial question
of law. Therefore, the Gangotri Textiles (supra) was distinguishable on
the facts and therefore, the ratio laid down by the Hon’ble Madras High
Court in the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. is not applicable to the facts of
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the present assessee. Moreover, the Ld.AR drew our attention to the fact
that the order in the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. (supra) in favour of the
Revenue was passed on 25.08.2020 whereas the decision in the case of
Babuji Jacob v. ITO reported in [2021] 430 ITR 259 (Mad.)(HC) was
passed after 08.12.2020 and by the very same Judge, Hon’ble Justice T.S.
Shivagnanam, who had taken note of the decision in the case of
Sundaram Finance Ltd v. ACIT reported in [2018] 403 ITR 407 which was
challenged by Sundaram Finance before the Hon’ble Supreme Court by
filing SLP which was dismissed and reported in [2018] 99 taxmann.com
152 (SC). Having considered all the contentions of the Revenue and after
considering a host of decision, their Lordships was pleased to hold in the
case of Babuji Jacob (supra) that the notice initiating penalty proceedings
if found to be defective and invalid, imposition of penalty vitiated/un-
warranted. Therefore, according to the Ld.AR, the legal issue raised
regarding defective notice u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act needs to be allowed
and penalty cancelled.
We have heard both the parties and perused the material available
on record. Since the assessee has raised, inter-alia, legal issue regarding
invalid notice issued u/s.271(1)(c) r.w.s.274 of the Act, we will
examine/adjudicate the said legal issue. For doing that, first of all we
have to peruse the show cause notice (SCN) issued by the AO u/s
271(1)(c) r.w.s. 274 of the Act dated 31.03.2015 by which the AO gave
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notice to the assessee as to “why an order imposing a penalty on you
should not be imposed u/s 271(1)(c) of the Act?” On perusal of the SCN
dated 31.03.2015 [for all the captioned AYs], we note that both the faults
specified in Section 271(1)(c) of the Act are given therein i.e. “have
concealed the particulars of his income” or “furnished inaccurate
particulars of such income”. In other words, the AO has put to notice the
assessee on both the faults without striking down the inapplicable fault
which could have specified which fault AO has in mind that assessee has
committed i.e. whether he is proposing penalty for the fault of
“concealment of particulars of income” or “for furnishing of inaccurate
particulars of income”. We note that by not striking down one of fault, the
assessee was not in a position to defend properly the charge/fault against
which the AO was proposing to levy penalty because both faults are
different and distinct. Therefore, the notice was per-se confusing and
vague; and infirm in eyes of law, for non-application of mind of the AO
before issuing notice u/s.274 r.w.s.271(1)(1)(c) of the Act, as well as
exposes the whimsical/arbitrary attitude of the AO, who has scant regard
for Rule of Law and therefore, bad in law; and such notice cannot be held
to be valid and legally tenable as pleaded by Revenue; and we note that
in similar factual background, this Tribunal has consistently held such
notices to be bad in law for not specifying the specific fault for which the
assessee was being proceeded against for levy of penalty. And such
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actions of the Tribunal has been upheld by several judgments of the
various High Courts. In this regard, we note that in a similar case, where
there was difference of opinion by two Division Benches, the Full Bench of
the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in the case of Mohd. Farhan A. Shaikh Vs.
DCIT (2021) 434 ITR 1 (Bombay) dated 11.03.2021 held that the show
cause notice issued prior to levy of penalty without specifying the
fault/charge against which the assessee is being proceeded, would vitiate
the penalty itself. And thus the Hon’ble High Court upheld the view of the
division bench order in the case of PCIT Vs. Goa Dourado Promotions (P.)
Ltd. (Tax Appeal No.18 of 2019, dated 26.11.2019) and held that the
contrary view taken by the other Division Bench in the case of CIT Vs.
Smt. Kaushalya (1995) 216 ITR 660 (Bom) does not lay down the correct
proposition of law.
As noted earlier, we find that the impugned penalty notice dated
31.03.2015 didn’t explicitly convey to the assessee the specific
fault/charge the assessee was being proceeded against for levy of
penalty. Resultantly, the show cause notice is found to be
defective/invalid, and therefore it is held to be bad in law. For doing that
we also rely on the decision of the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in the
case of CIT vs Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory reported in (2013)
359 ITR 565 (Kar) and further notes that the Department’s SLP against it
has been dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. We also find that
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Hon’ble Karnataka High Court in the case of CIT Vs. SSA’s Emerald
Meadows, reported in (2016) 73 taxmann.com 241 (Kar) endorsed the
same view in Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory (supra) and held as
under:-
“3. The Tribunal has allowed the appeal filed by the assessee holding the notice issued by the Assessing Officer under section 274 read with Section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘the Act’), to be bad in law as it did not specify which limb of Section 271(1)(c) of the Act, the penalty proceedings had been initiated i.e., whether for concealment of particulars of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income. The Tribunal, while allowing the appeal of the assessee, has relied on the decision of the Division Bench of this Court rendered in the case of CIT Vs. Manjunatha Cotton & Ginning Factory (2013) 359 ITR 565/218 Taxman 423/35 taxmann.com 250(Kar). 4. In our view, since the matter is covered by judgment of the Division Bench of this Court, we are of the opinion, no substantial question of law arises in this appeal for determination by this Court. The appeal is accordingly dismissed.”
And as noted, the Hon’ble Madras High Court had an occasion to
deal with similar question in the case of Babuji Jacob (supra) wherein, the
Hon’ble High Court (DB) had framed substantial question of law, inter-
alia, as under:
“i. Whether the notice issued under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act dated 30.3.2016 in the printed form without specifically mentioning whether the proceedings are initiated on the ground of concealment of income or on account of furnishing of inaccurate particulars is valid and legal ?
ii. Whether the proceedings initiated by the respondent/the Assessing Officer is legal and valid?
iii. Whether the Appellate Tribunal is justified otherwise in rejecting the said technical ground of wrong initiation of the penalty proceedings under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act in misreading the show cause notice dated 30.3.2016 proving perversity in the findings of facts at para 6.5 of the impugned http://www.judis.nic.in order? “
The Hon’ble Madras High Court’s observation regarding defective
show cause notice in that case as under:-
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A show cause notice was issued to the assessee proposing to initiate proceedings under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act vide notice dated 30.3.2016. A copy of the said notice dated 30.3.2016 has been furnished in the typed set of papers and we find that the said notice does not specifically state as to whether the assessee is guilty of concealing particulars of his income or has furnished inaccurate particulars of income.
And the Hon’ble Madras High Court observed further as under:
The first aspect to be considered is as to whether the notice issued under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act dated 30.3.2016 is legally valid and proper. Admittedly, the notice did not specifically mention as to whether the assessee concealed particulars of his income or furnished inaccurate particulars or both.
Such notices, which did not specify as to which limb of Section 271(1)(c) of the Act would get attracted, were held to be bad in law in the decision of the Karnataka High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory [reported in (2013) 359 ITR 565], which was followed in the decision of the Karnataka High Court in the case of CIT, Bangalore Vs. SSA Emerald Meadows [reported in (2016) 73 Taxmann.com 241] and in the decision of this Court, to which, one of us (TSSJ) was a party, in the case of CIT Vs. Original Kerala Jewellers [TCA.No.717 of 2018 dated 18.12.2018].
Thus, by applying the law laid down in the above decisions, we can safely hold that such notices are bad in law. Consequently, the penalty proceedings initiated are to be held to be wholly invalid.
Thereafter, the Hon’ble High Court even noted the decision in the
case of Sundaram Finance Ltd., which was also cited by the Ld.DR before
us and observed in this regard as under:
The decision of this Court in the case of Sundaram Finance Ltd., was couched on a different factual position wherein the Court rejected the plea of the assessee, which was a limited company, when they raised an argument with regard to the validity of the notice for the first time before the High Court and considering the administrative set up of the said assessee and the fact that the assessee was never prejudiced on account of the alleged defect, the Court rejected the argument of the assessee.
In the case on hand, we find that at the first instance, while replying to the penalty show cause notice dated 30.3.2016, the assessee raised a specific plea that there was no concealment of income, that he had not furnished inaccurate particulars of income and that the notice was not proper. Therefore, the phraseology, which was adopted by the assessee, if read as a whole, would clearly show that he had objected to the issuance of the notice and as there was no basis for issuance of the notice under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act, both limbs in the said provision do not get attracted. Hence, the decision of this Court in the case of Sundaram Finance Ltd., cannot be applied.
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And thereafter, the Hon’ble Madras High Court held that the notice
initiating penalty proceedings was defective and invalid and allowed the
appeal of the assessee and answered the question of law in favour of the
assessee.
In the light of the discussion (supra) we find that the notice issued
u/s.274 r.w.s 271(1)(c) by the AO dated 31.03.2015 were infirm/invalid
in the eyes of law for all the captioned AYs. Therefore, in light of the
aforesaid decision of the Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of Babuji
Jacob (supra), and other case laws discussed, we direct the deletion of
the penalty levied in all the three captioned appeals. And since the
penalty notice issued by AO itself are invalid & legally untenable,
consequent penalty levied for concealment of particulars of income are
null in eyes of law. Therefore, assessee succeeds and the penalty levied
is directed to be deleted.
Before parting, we would like to deal with the submissions of the
Ld.AR for Revenue against the legal issue, we allowed supra. The main
contention of the Revenue is that the case laws cited by the Ld.AR of the
assessee, especially in the case of Babuji Jacob (supra) and other cases
are nullified in the light of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in
the case of Gangotri Textiles Ltd. (supra). According to the Revenue,
similar legal issue [defective notice] was raised by that assessee i.e.
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Gangotri Textiles Ltd., initially before the Hon’ble Madras High Court,
which contention/issue was repelled by the Hon’ble High Court and
thereby the Hon’ble High Court was pleased to pass an order in favour of
the Revenue by order dated 25.08.2020. And such a decision was
challenged by the assessee before the Hon’ble Supreme Court by filing
SLP which was dismissed on 18.02.2022 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court
which order reads as under:
We have heard Shri Arvind P. Datar, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner. In the facts and circumstances of the case, we do not want to interfere with the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court in exercise of powers under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Hence, the Special Leave petitions stand dismissed. Pending application(s) shall stand disposed of. 18. According to the Revenue, since the Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld
the action of the Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of Gangotri
Textiles Ltd. (supra), similar legal issue raised by the assessee in respect
of defective notice should be answered against the assessee. Further
according to the Revenue, since the SLP has been dismissed in 2022, all
other orders cited by the Tribunal in the impugned order stands nullified.
We don’t agree with the contention of the Revenue. Doctrine of merger
doesn’t take place when the Hon’ble Supreme Court refuses Special Leave
to appeal. In other words, the order of the Hon’ble High Court [under
challenge before the Hon’ble Supreme Court] doesn’t get substituted by
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the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. This position of law has been
clarified by the Hon’ble Supreme Court itself that SLP dismissal or refusal
by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to entertain Special Leave to appeal before
it, doesn’t mean that the order challenged before it, gets substituted by
the order of the Supreme Court and in such an event the doctrine of
merger doesn’t take place. In other words, the order challenged before
the Hon’ble Supreme Court [in the case of Gangotri Textiles supra, by the
Hon’ble Madras High Court] doesn’t merge with the decision of the
Hon’ble Supreme Court and therefore, it can’t be held to be a declaration
of law by the Hon’ble Supreme Court under Article 141 of the
Constitution. For such a proposition, we rely on the following decisions:
I. Kunhayammed v. State of Kerala (2000)6 SCC 359 II. Khoday Distilleries v. Sri Mahadeshwara Sahakara Sakkare Karkhane (2019) 2 SCC 136 19. Having said so, we also find force in the submission of the Ld.DR
that the order passed by the Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of
Gangotri Textiles Ltd., was on the peculiar facts of that case and so, it is
distinguishable. And in that case, the defect in the notice was raised for
the first time before the Hon’ble Madras High Court, which was also a
fact, the Hon’ble High Court noted to refuse admission of the same; and
secondly, the Hon’ble High Court took note of the distinguishing facts of
the case, wherein the assessee didn’t disclose about the sale of its land &
ITA Nos.2741 to 2743/Chny/2025 (AYs 2008-09 to 2010-11) M/s. RR Industries Ltd. :: 17 ::
windmill in its RoI filed u/s.139(1) of the Act on 26.09.2012 and after ‘13’
months of issuance of statutory notice u/s.143(2) of the Act, the assessee
by letter dated 03.03.2015, admitted that due to oversight, it didn’t offer
the capital gains in its return and attached a summary of total income
adjusting profit on the LTCG & STCG; and even at that stage, didn’t
bother to file revised return. Considering the aforesaid facts, the Hon’ble
High Court wondered as to how the assessee while responding to the
penalty notice dated 12.03.2015, could have asserted that there was no
concealment of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income as
envisaged, sec.271(1)(c) of the Act. The Hon’ble High Court took note of
the fact that, the assessee didn’t disclose about the sale of the land &
windmill in its return which fact/omission was clearly discernable from the
perusal of the RoI/ITR, wherein, at the relevant column, it is stated as
‘nil’. In such factual back ground, the Hon’ble High Court held that “it will
not only be a case of filing of inaccurate particulars, but also a case of
concealment of income” meaning in the peculiar facts both faults are
attracted. Therefore, in the aforesaid factual back ground, the assessee
having understood the ingredients of the penalty proposed to be levied
against it, coupled with the omission on the part of the assessee of not
raising the invalidity/legal issue pertaining to the notice before the
Ld.CIT(A)/Tribunal, refused to entertain the legal issue regarding defect in
the notice and was of the view that there was no substantial question of
ITA Nos.2741 to 2743/Chny/2025 (AYs 2008-09 to 2010-11) M/s. RR Industries Ltd. :: 18 ::
law against the action of the Tribunal confirming the penalty
u/s.271(1)(c) of the Act. Therefore, the decision rendered in Gangotri
Textiles Ltd.supra, is distinguishable on the peculiar facts of that case and
therefore, dismissal of the SLP refusing leave to appeal, as noted supra
would not come to the aid of the Revenue to wipe out the stare-
decisis/judicial precedent of ratio laid down by the Hon’ble jurisdictional
High Court in the case of Babuji Jacob (supra). Therefore, we don’t find
any merits in the submissions/written submissions by the Revenue
against the legal issue of defective notice dated 31.03.2015 for all AYs
before us and which has been decided on the binding ratio of decision of
the Hon’ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of Babuji Jacob (supra)
and other case laws cited supra; and hence, we don’t find any merit in the
submissions of the Ld.DR for Revenue and hence rejected.
In the result, appeals filed by the assessee are allowed.
Order pronounced on the 18th day of February, 2026, in Chennai.
Sd/- Sd/- (प�ावती .एस) (एबी टी. वक�) (PADMAVATHY. S) (ABY T. VARKEY) लेखा सद�य/ACCOUNTANT MEMBER �याियक सद�य/JUDICIAL MEMBER चे�ई/Chennai, �दनांक/Dated: 18th February, 2026. TLN
ITA Nos.2741 to 2743/Chny/2025 (AYs 2008-09 to 2010-11) M/s. RR Industries Ltd. :: 19 :: आदेश क� �ितिलिप अ�ेिषत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथ�/Appellant 2. ��थ�/Respondent 3. आयकरआयु�/CIT, Chennai / Madurai / Salem / Coimbatore. 4. िवभागीय�ितिनिध/DR 5. गाड�फाईल/GF