SRIHARI PULIMETI,HYDERABAD vs. ITO., WARD 9(1), HYDERABAD

The assessee raised the following grounds:

Facts of the case, in brief, are that the assessee is an Individual, filed his return of income through E-Filing for the A.Y. 2016-17 on 17/02/2018 admitting total income of Rs 3,09,900/-. During the year the assessee shown income from salary amounting to Rs. 2,35,000/- and income from other sources amounting to Rs. 2,72,000/-. In the return of income, in employer category column assessee mentioned as not applicable. Assessee filed latest return i.e. A.Y. 2018-19 under ITR 4 for presumptive income from business and profession. The case was selected for scrutiny under CASS category under “Limited Scrutiny” to verify the issues “Large cash deposits in bank accounts and assessee has also purchased/sold one or more property (ies) during the year” and accordingly statutory notice U/ s 143(2) was issued on 23/08/2018 and the same served on assessee. Subsequently, notice U/ s 142(1) along with questionnaire was issued by requiring the assessee to furnish the information as specified therein.

In response to the notices issued, the assessee has not furnished information & details called for, in E-Proceedings. On verification of the records, it is noticed that during the year under consideration assessee has deposited cash of Rs. 10,00,000/- or more in a saving Bank account aggregating amounting to Rs. 58,90,000/- with Indian Overseas Bank, bearing account No. 154601000016774 and assessee also purchased immovable properties amounting to Rs. 14,96,000/- on 03/08/2015 vide document no. 3287/2015, amounting to Rs. 17,85,000/- on 03/08/2015 vide document no. 3286/2015 and amounting to Rs. 17,85,000/- on 03/08/2015 vide document no. 3285/2015 which were registered with SRO Azampura. In addition to the above assessee also purchased one more immovable property amounting to Rs. 14,10,500/- on 11/06/2015 vide document no. 5416/2015 which was registered with SRO Uppal. In this connection details were called for, from the assessee by issuing notice 142(1) of the Act, from time to time. But the assessee not furnished any information to the Assessing Officer. Due to non-submission of information by the assessee show cause notice issued to the assessee on 01/11/2018 and the case is posted for hearing on 12/11/2018.

In response to the show cause notices also, neither assessee furnished reply in e-proceedings nor submitted reply manually to this office. Under these circumstances and the case is getting time barred by limitation on 31/12/2018, the Assessing Officer completed the assessment and made a demand of Rs. 1,26,76,400/-.

In appeal, the learned CIT (A) NFAC, dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee on the ground of non-compliance of notices.

Aggrieved with such order of the learned CIT (A) the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal.

The learned Counsel for the assessee submitted that there was a failure on the part of the assessee to file evidences before the lower authorities due to certain unavoidable reasons which was beyond the control of the assessee. He further submitted that given an opportunity, the assessee would be in a position to submit the requisite details before the Assessing Officer.

9. The learned DR, on the other hand, submitted that despite issuance of several notices, the assessee failed to comply with the statutory notices issued by the Department and failed to furnish the requisite details. Hence, the grounds raised by the assessee be dismissed.

We have heard the rival arguments made by both the sides and perused the orders of the AO and the learned CIT (A). We find the AO in the instant case made addition of Rs. 1,26,76,400/- on the ground that the assessee failed to comply with the statutory notices issued by the Department. We find the assessee failed to furnish necessary details before the lower authorities despite issuance of several notices. This speaks volume and careless attitude of the assessee for the notices issued by the Department. Considering the totality of the facts of the case and in the interest of justice, we deem it proper to restore the issue to the file of the Assessing Officer with a direction to grant one more opportunity to the assessee to substantiate his case. The assessee is also directed to pay a sum of Rs.3000/- to the State Legal Aid Services of the Hon'ble Telangana High Court for non-compliance of the statutory notices issued by the Department. The assessee is directed to submit the slip to the Registry, ITAT Hyderabad Benches within a period of 2 months from the date of this order. We hold and direct accordingly.

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