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TMI Blog2013 (11) TMI 1510X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s a essential requirement of penalty u/s 271(1)(c) - Following Hindustan Steel vs. State of Orissa [1969 (8) TMI 31 - SUPREME Court] - Even if a minimum penalty is prescribed, the authority competent to impose the penalty will be justified in refusing to impose penalty, when there is a technical or venial breach of the provisions of the Act, or where the breach flows from a bonafide belief that the offender is not liable to act in the manner prescribed by the statute - Decided against Revenue. - ITA No. 2691/Del/2013 - - - Dated:- 22-11-2013 - Shri R. P. Tolani And Shri Shamim Yahya,JJ. For the Petitioner : Ms. Nidhi Srivastava, D.R. For the Respondent : Sh. T.R. Talwar, Adv. ORDER Per Shamim Yahya: AM. This appeal by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rder dated 20.10.2010 in I.T.A. No. 1458/Del/2010, directed that the addition should be restricted to Rs. 17,67,450/- as against Rs. 27,90,906/-, since, the maximum amount of the loan outstanding during the year was Rs. 17,67,450/-. Since the assessee did not respond to the show cause notice of the AO for imposition of concealment penalty, the AO imposed a penalty of Rs. 5,84,553/- on the assessee for concealment of income and for filing inaccurate particulars of his income. 4. Aggrieved by the above order assessee appealed before the Ld. CIT(A). Assessee submitted that the amount of loan and advances taken by the assessee were attributable to normal business transactions and were on account of travelling and other expenses to be incurred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e intention. In my opinion, the instant case is covered by the ruling of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the case of C.I.T. vs. Reliance Petroproducts Pvt. Ltd. (2010) 322 ITR 158 (SC), wherein the Hon'ble Court has held that "...as the appellant had furnished all the details of its expenditure as well as income in its return, which details, in themselves, were not found to be inaccurate nor could be viewed as the concealment of income on its part. It was up to the authorities to accept its claim in the return or not. Merely because the assessee had claimed the expenditure, which claim was not accepted or was not acceptable to the Revenue, that by itself would not, in our opinion attract u/s. 271(1)(c). If we accept the contention of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 17,67,450/- by the ITAT, Delhi. Penalty proceedings were also initiated on this amount and penalty of Rs. 5,84,553/- was levied. 6.1 Plea of the assessee is that loans and advances taken by the assessee were attributable to normal business transactions and were on account of travelling and other expenses to be incurred by the assessee for the purpose of the business of the company. We find that all the facts in this connection were duly disclosed by the assessee. There was no concealment. We find that the assessee's explanation that the addition was made under the deeming provisions of section 2(22)(e) of the Act which the assessee was not well aware of has sufficient cogency. When the assessee has made all the necessary disclosures and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... her place reliance from the Apex Court decision rendered by a larger Bench comprising of three of their Lordships in the case of Hindustan Steel vs. State of Orissa in 83 ITR 26 wherein it was held that "An order imposing penalty for failure to carry out a statutory obligation is the result of a quasi-criminal proceedings, and penalty will not ordinarily be imposed unless the party obliged either acted deliberately in defiance of law or was guilty of conduct contumacious or dishonest, or acted in conscious disregard of its obligation. Penalty will not also be imposed merely because it is lawful to do so. Whether penalty should be imposed for failure to perform a statutory obligation is a matter of discretion of the authority to be exercised ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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