2008 (12) TMI 24 - HC - Income Tax

Tribunal deleted the additions and penalty holding that the authority had not recorded its satisfaction regarding concealment - present cases relate to assessment orders made after 01.04.1989 and, therefore covered by the amendment brought in Section 271 by the insertion of s.s. 1B Since Tribunal limited itself only to the question of recording of satisfaction & didn t go into the question on merits, in view of the amendment, matters is remitted to the Tribunal for consideration on merits

Summary

The High Court of Delhi delivered a judgment in a series of cases involving the Commissioner of Income Tax and various companies and individuals. The Full Bench was tasked with determining whether the satisfaction of the officer initiating proceedings under Section 271 of the Income Tax Act could be considered to have been recorded even when not explicitly stated in the order. The Full Bench, in its judgment, referred to the insertion of sub-section 1B in Section 271 by the Finance Act, 2008, which deems satisfaction of the Assessing Officer to have been recorded in cases where an addition or disallowance is made by the Assessing Officer and a direction for penalty proceedings is issued. The provision was made effective retrospectively from 01.04.1989. The Full Bench clarified that cases with assessment orders made after 01.04.1989 were not covered by the reference and would be subject to the amendment in Section 271. As the appeals focused solely on the recording of satisfaction and not on merits, the matters were remitted to the Tribunal for consideration on merits due to the amendment brought about by the Finance Act, 2008. The impugned orders by the Tribunal were set aside, and the appeals were sent back to the Tribunal for further hearings. The cases were scheduled to be listed before the Tribunal on 21.1.2009 for directions on future listing. The appeals were consequently disposed of.