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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘C’, NEW DELHI
Before: SHRI H.S. SIDHU & SHRI B.R.R. KUMAR
This is an appeal filed by the Assessee against the order dated 31.12.2013 of the Ld. CIT(A)-XV, New Delhi relevant to assessment year 2005-06 on the following grounds:-
1. The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in fact and in law by not deleting the addition made by Ld. Assessing Officer an amount of Rs. 11,51,75,117/- being Interest receivable from MCD.
2. That the appellant craves to add, delete or modify any grounds of appeal at the time of hearing.
2. Facts narrated by the Revenue authorities are not disputed by both the parties, hence, the same are not repeated here for the sake of convenience.
At the time of hearing, Ld. Counsel for the assessee draw our attention towards the Application for submission of additional ground of appeal and stated that assessee could not take these grounds before the Ld. First Appellate Authority which relates to the question of law and goes to the root of the matter and not required any thorough investigation at this stage. Hence, he requested that the additional grounds raised by the assessee may be admitted and decided accordingly.
4. On the other hand, Ld. CIT(DR) opposed the request of the Ld. Counsel for the assessee and stated that assessee has not raised these grounds before the Ld. First Appellate Authority, hence, he may not be permitted to raise these grounds. Accordingly, the request of the ld. Counsel for the assessee may be rejected.
We have heard both the parties and perused the records, especially the orders passed by the Revenue Authorities and we are of the view that assessee has raised these grounds before the Tribunal and the same were not raised before the Ld. First Appellate Authority in the appellate proceedings. There is no doubt that these legal additional grounds do not require any thorough investigation at this stage to determine the issue in dispute. We note that Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its judgment delivered in the case of NTPC vs. CIT (1998) 229 ITR 383 (SC) has held as under:-
“The Tribunal will have the discretion to allow or not allow a new ground to be raised. But where the Tribunal is only required to consider a question of law arising from the facts which are on record in the assessment proceedings there is no reason why such a question should not be allowed to be raised when it is necessary to consider that question in order to correctly assess the tax liability of an assessee.” 5.1 Keeping in view the aforesaid judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of NTPC vs. CIT (Supra), we admit the following additional grounds of appeal filed by the assessee during the hearing, which are legal in nature and therefore, goes to the root of the matter and do not require thorough investigation at this stage. We also note that the said additional grounds same have not been raised before the Ld. CIT(A).
Therefore, without commenting upon the merits of the case and in the interest of justice, we remit back the said issues to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) with the directions to decide the following additional grounds accordingly, in accordance with law, after giving adequate opportunity of being heard to the assessee. For the sake of convenience, the contentions raised by the Assessee in the Application for Submission additional grounds are reproduced as under:-
“APPLICATION FOR SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL GROUND In the captioned matter, appeal against the order dated December 31, 2013 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-XV, New Delhi for the assessment year 2005-06 was filed before Your Honour on February 28, 2014.
In the appeal filed, the appellant inadvertently did not take the ground relating to a question of law, which goes to the root of the matter and accordingly affects the tax liability of the appellant. The question of law arises from the facts, which are on record and do not call for any investigation.
The appellant seeks to take the following additional grounds:- “That the Assessment Order dated 30th August, 2012 under setion 147/143(3) of the Act passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle 12(1), New Delhi is without jurisdiction and bad in law and void ab initio.”
3. Your kind reference is invited to the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of NTPC Ltd. Vs. CIT (1998) 229 ITR 383 (SC).
“The Tribunal will have the discretion to allow or not allow a new ground to be raised. But where the Tribunal is only required to consider a question of law arising from the facts which are on record in the assessment proceedings there is no reason why such a question in order to correctly assess the tax liability of an assessee.”
The aforesaid additional ground, it is prayed, may kindly be admitted and adjudicated upon.
Prayed Accordingly.
Yours sincerely,