9911796707
TMI Blog2008 (2) TMI 29X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... MENT The judgment of the court was delivered by 1 SATISH KUMAR MITTAL J.—This order shall dispose of the Income—tax Appeals bearing Nos. 476, 477, 478, 479 and 480 of 2007, filed under section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), which are arising from the common order passed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as "the ITAT"), whereby the five appeals filed by different assessees, in which the common question of law was involved, were disposed of. 2 The common issue involved in these appeals is relating to the penalty imposed under section 271B of the Act for violation of the provisions of section 44AB. 3 For the disposal of these appeals, we are taking the facts ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, under the provisions of the Societies Act, and since the auditor was not appointed by the Registrar within the stipulated time, therefore, the audit report could not be submitted in time. 5 It is pertinent to mention here that in the present case, the copy of the audit report in Forms Nos. 3CA and 3CD was submitted by the society with its reply dated September 15, 2005. Before the Assessing Officer, the society raised a contention that it has no control over the appointment of auditor by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, therefore, the requirement of submitting the audit report within the stipulated period could not be complied with. 6 The Assessing Officer did not accept the explanation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s not appointed by the Registrar within the stipulated time, therefore, the audit report could not be submitted in time, cannot be accepted as reasonable because if the auditor was not appointed by the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, within the stipulated period, the society could have got its accounts audited by the chartered accountant before the specified date and furnish the same along with the audit report in the prescribed form as per the provisions of section 44AB of the Act. Learned counsel further submitted that the second pro viso of section 44AB of the Act provides an alternative to a person, who is required by or under any other law to get his accounts audited under such law before the specified date and furnishes by that dat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e present case, the specified date is October 31, 2004. The Explanation added to sub-section (2) of section 288 of the Act provides that in this section, "accountant" means a chartered accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, and includes, in relation to any State, any person who by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956, is entitled to be appointed to act as here such person is required by or under any other law to get his accounts audited, it shall be sufficient compliance with the provisions of this section if such person gets the accounts of such business or profession audited under such law before the specified date and furnishes by that date the report of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not find anillegality in the conclusion arrived at by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal that the explanation given by the society is satisfactory. Once the explanation given by the assessee was found to be satisfactory, the benefit of section 273B was available to the assessee. The said finding is a pure finding of fact based on the material available on the record which does not require any interference in these appeals. We are also not inclined to accept the contention of learned counsel for the appellants that in the present case when the society could not get its accounts audited from the auditor Dointed by the Registrar, then it, could have got its accounts audited from chartered accountant and submit the report within the specified ti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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