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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, PUNE BENCHES “SMC” :: PUNE
Before: MS. ASTHA CHANDRA & DR. DIPAK P. RIPOTE
ORDER
PER DR. DIPAK P. RIPOTE, AM:
This is an appeal filed by the Assessee against the order of ld.Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeal)[NFAC], u/sec.250 of the Act dated 12.03.2024.The Assessee has raised following grounds of appeal :
1. On the facts and in the prevailing circumstances of the case and in law, the learned CIT Appeal, erred in disallowing the deduction of Rs.41,65,363/- on account of interest income earned out of fixed deposit with Cooperative/ Nationalised Bank and which is eligible for P P Pandurang Gramin Bigarsheti Sahakari Patsanstha Maryadit [A] deduction u/s 80P(2)(d) or 80P(2)(a)(i) of the IT Act.
2. On the facts and in the prevailing circumstances of the case and in law, the learned CIT Appeal, erred in not following the jurisdictional ITAT Pune, decision on the similar issue which is binding on the lower Authorities as per the law laid down by Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Bank of Barada vs H C Srivastava (256 ITR 385) and thus the total deduction of Rs. 41,65,363/- disallowed u/s 80P(2)(a)(i) or 80P(2)(d) of the IT Act was not justified.
3. The Appellate craves the right to add, amend, modify, alter, revise, substitute, delete any or all grounds of the appeal, if deemed necessary at the time of hearing of the appeal.”
At the outset of hearing, no one appeared on behalf of the assessee. No adjournment application was filed.
Brief facts of the case : 3. Assessee is a Co-operative Credit Society engaged in the business of providing credit facilities to the members by accepting deposits from members. Assessee is registered under the Maharashtra Co-operatives Act, 1960 on 29.03.2024. Assessee e- filed Return of Income claiming deduction u/sec.80P(2)(a)(i) of Rs.26,13,245/-. The assessee’s case was selected for scrutiny. Assessing Officer(AO) passed assessment order u/sec.143(3) on 26.09.2022. In the assessment order, assessee’s claim for 2 P P Pandurang Gramin Bigarsheti Sahakari Patsanstha Maryadit [A] deduction u/sec.80P(2)(a) was rejected following decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Totagars Co-operative Sales Society Vs. ITO Karnataka [2010] 188 Taxman 282(SC). The AO added the amount of Rs.41,65,336/- treating as Income from Other Sources which is not eligible for deduction u/sec.80P(2)(a)(i) of the Act. Therefore, the AO held that assessee is not eligible for deduction u/sec.80P(2)(a)(i) of the Act. Aggrieved by the assessment order, assessee filed appeal before the ld.CIT(A). Ld.CIT(A) upheld the assessment order.
Aggrieved by the order of the Ld.CIT(A), assessee has filed appeal before the ITAT.
Findings & Analysis : 5. We have heard ld.Departmental Representative(ld.DR) for the Revenue and perused the records. It is mentioned in the assessment order that the assessee is a Credit Co-operative Societyregistered under Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act. The prime function of the society is accepting deposits and advancing loans to the members. During the A.Y.2020-21, the assessee has earned an interest income of Rs.41,65,336/- from investments with various co-operative banks/banks as under:
3 P P Pandurang Gramin Bigarsheti Sahakari Patsanstha Maryadit [A] Sr Particulars Amount No 1 NDCC Bank FDR 1019080 2 Namco Bank FDR 22581234 3 Dena Bank FDR 2303770 4 Thane Janata Sahakari Bank FDR 10412817 5 Shamrav Vitthal Co-operative Bank 10636209 FDR 6 Saraswat Co-operative Bank FDR 11529801 7 NDCC Bank FDR 1790250 5.1 Assessee claimed deduction u/sec.80P(2)(a) of the Act on the interest earned from above Co-operative Banks/Banks.
The assessee had claimed deduction u/sec.80P(2) for the interest earned from various Co-operative Banks / Nationalized / Scheduled Banks. In this case, the AO has ignored most important submission of the assessee that the Assessee is a Co-Operative Society registered under Maharashtra State Co-Operative Society Act and it is under the control of