9911796707
TMI Blog2018 (10) TMI 363X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is an individual and Managing Director of M/s. Meridian Promoters Pvt. Ltd., Visakhapatnam, deriving income from salary and rental income apart from agricultural income. As per the information received from the Assistant Director of Income Tax (Investigation), Unit-III(1), Visakhapatnam, the assessee had sold a piece of land for a sale consideration of Rs. 1,26,74,000/- on 19/11/2012, which he had purchased for Rs. 18,90,9000/- in the year 2001. Thus, long term capital gain is attracted in the said transaction, but assessee has not paid any tax on capital gain. Further, it was also observed from the bank statement of ICICI, A/c. No.00605001176 furnished by the assessee during the course of investigation proceedings that huge cash deposits a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e asked the Assessing Officer for one month time to file explanation, however, the Assessing Officer has not accepted the time asked by the assessee and levied penalty under section 271(1)(c) of the Act for an amount of Rs. 25,27,350/- by observing that "the undersigned is specified that the assessee has a taxable income of Rs. 1,15,43,620/- during the financial year relevant to Assessment Year 2013-14 and hence, is liable to pay penalty which shall not be less than 100% of tax sought to be evaded, but shall not be exceeding 300% of the amount of tax sought to be evaded and the penalty so leviable is in addition to the tax payable by the assessee". 3. On appeal before the ld. CIT(A), the assessee has raised a legal ground that notice issue ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Officer dated 15/10/2015 and find that the Assessing Officer has not struck off the portion which is not applicable while initiating the penalty proceedings. For the sake of convenience, the relevant portion of the notice is extracted as under:- "Whereas in the course of proceedings before me for the Assessment Year 2009-10, it appears to me that you x x x x x x x x x * Have concealed the particulars of your income or furnished inaccurate particulars of such income." 9. From the above, it is not clear whether penalty is initiated for concealment of income or furnished inaccurate of particulars of such income. Under the similar facts and circumstances of the case, the coordinate bench of the tribunal in the case of Koncha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cision of the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court cited, for starting the penalty proceedings, the condition precedent is that the assessing officer must be satisfied that a person has either concealed the particulars of his income or furnished inaccurate particulars of such income. The person who is accused of the conditions mentioned in Section 271 should be made aware of the grounds on which imposition of penalty is proposed as he has a right to contest such proceedings and should have the full opportunity to meet the case of the revenue so as to show that the conditions stipulated in Section 271(1)(c) do not exist and that he is not liable to pay the penalty. The Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka in the case law cited held that the practice ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y notice, the assessing officer has put the assessee on notice for which offence, the penalty u/s 271 was initiated. Therefore, the case is squarely covered by the decision of the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court of cited (supra) wherein the Hon'ble high court held as under: "On principle, when penalty proceedings are sought to be initiated by the revenue under Section 271(1)(c) of the Act of 1961, the specific ground which forms the foundation therefore has to be spelt out in clear terms Otherwise, on assesee would not have proper opportunity to put forth his defence. When the proceedings are penal in nature resulting in imposition of penalty ranging from 100% to 300% of the tax liability, the charge must be unequivocal and unambiguous ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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