S.SRINIVASAN,CHENNAI vs. ACIT NON CORPORATE CIRCLE 9, CHENNAI

This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) 10, Chennai, dated 26.04.2018 relevant to the assessment year 2005-06 passed under section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [“Act” in short].

At the outset, by referring to the grounds of appeal, the ld. Counsel for the assessee has submitted that once quantum appeal is pending before the appellate authority, no penalty can be levied under section 271(1)(c) of the Act and prayed that the penalty levied may be deleted. On the other hand, the ld. DR fairly conceded that the penalty appeal may be remitted back to the ld. CIT(A) to adjudicate both the quantum appeal as well as penalty appeal.

We have heard both the sides, perused the materials available on record and gone through the orders of authorities below. In this case, assessment under section 144 r.w.s. 264 of the Act was completed by assessing the total income of the assessee at ₹.63,80,875/-. Subsequently, the Assessing Officer initiated penalty proceedings by serving notice under section 271(1)(c) r.w. s. 274 of the Act dated 29.03.2016. Since there was no representation from assessee’s side, after considering the facts of the case, the Assessing Officer levied penalty under section 271(1)(c) of the Act. On appeal against levy of penalty, since, there was no representation from assessee’s side, the ld. CIT(A) confirmed the penalty levied under section 271(1)(c) of the Act. Since the assessee has raised a specific ground [S. No. 5 to 7] that the quantum appeal is pending before the ld. CIT(A) and there being no objection from Department side, we remit the matter back to the file of the ld. CIT(A) to adjudicate both the quantum appeal as well as penalty appeal and decide the matter in accordance with law.

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