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TMI Blog2021 (4) TMI 91X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssued to the assessee and case was fixed for hearing on 23.08.2018. On 07.09.2018 show cause notice of penalty u/s 271(l)(b) was issued for A.Ys. 2011-12 to 2017 - 18 and case was fixed on 14.09.2018. In compliance to the said notice the assessee filed copy of ITR and bank statement only. Another notice u/s 142(1) dated 05.10.2018 was issued to the assessee for a p p e a r i n g on 25.10.2018 with details enclosed with notice. However, no compliance was made by assessee even to this notice for all these assessment years. The AO, therefore, issued show cause notice to the assessee asking him to explain as to why penalty u/s 271(1)(b) of the I.T. Act shall not be levied for all these assessment years. In absence of any compliance made by the assessee, penalty u/s 271(l)(b) was levied by AO on 06.12.2019 for A.Ys. 2011-12 to 2017-18. 4. Before the Ld. CIT(A), it was submitted that 1. In the penalty order, the Ld AO has stated that in response to the penalty show cause notice dated 09.11.2018 fixing the hearing for 19.11.2018 - none attended the proceeding, whereas on 19.11.2018 the AR of the appellant appeared along with the letter stating there in that as the notice u/s 142(1) fi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the Assessing Officer on 22.09.2017, in response to which the returns of income were filed by the appellant for these years on different dates before 31.03.2018. * Proceedings u/s 143(2) were initiated on 30.08.2018. Subsequently notice u/s 142(1) was issued on 30.08.2018 containing 23 queries to be replied by 10.09.2018 for all these assessment years. In response to it, only copy of ITR and bank statement were submitted on 10.09.2018 and no other details were filed. * Another notice u/s 142(1) along with detailed questionnaire containing 14 queries and explanation of seized material was issued on 05.10.2018 for filing the details on 25.10.2018 for all these assessment years. There was no compliance by the appellant on 25.10.2018. * A show cause notice dated 09.11.2018 for imposing penalty u/s 271(l)(b), for failure to furnish details u/s 142(1) dated 05.10.2018 was issued by the AO fixing the date of hearing on 19.11.2018. The appellant did not respond to the notice of the hearing on this date. * The AO had issued prosecution notice u/s 276D dated 19.11.2018 to the appellant for all these assessment years. * The AO passed penalty order u/s 271(l)(b) on 06.12.2018 for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 8, when the appellant first responded to the AO on 07.12.2018. There was no request for adjournment at any point of time in the whole proceedings citing plausible reasons for delay in submission of details. Although AO had not initiated any penalty for non compliance of earlier 142(1) notice dated 30.8.2018, there was no compliance of even this earlier notice by the appellant till December 2018. The case was time barring on 31.12.2018 and first compliance to 142(1) notices, dated 30.8.2018 & 5/16.10.2018, was made on 7.12.2018. Thus there was deliberate attempt on the part of the appellant to delay the compliance of the details asked by AO, to prevent the AO from investigation of issues, by squeezing the time at the disposal of the AO. Thus this plea of the appellant is also rejected considering the overall behaviour of the appellant regarding compliance before the AO. 6.3.2 The argument of the appellant that the notice u/s 142(1) was dated 5.10.2018 whereas the penalty notice u/s 271(l)(b) states date of notice as 16.10.2018. These facts have been clarified in the above para 6.2. The notice was dated 5.10.2018, but the questionnaire referred in notice was later modified & made ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f appellant had severely hampered the assessment proceedings and caused prejudice to the AO. There was no "reasonable cause" on the part of appellant to explain such delay. Thus the case of appellant cannot be said to factually fall in the category of cited case laws by the appellant. Therefore, this plea of the appellant is also rejected. 6.4 In the facts & circumstances of the case and the discussion made in the para 6.3 above, it is held that the appellant had deliberately defaulted on various occasions without any "reasonable cause" to file the requisite details. The appellant had not bothered to even ask for adjournments, even if it is presumed that it was taking time to prepare the requisite details. The non compliance of notices had led to severe prejudice in the investigation process during assessment proceedings to the AO. These handicaps caused by the non compliance of the appellant have been clearly mentioned by the AO in the assessment order also. Even the penalty/prosecution notices issued by the AO could not elicit the compliance from the appellant. The appellant had waited till the levy of penalty u/s 271(l)(b) on 06.12.2018 to file first set of submissions after i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sonable time. Referring to the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Smt. Neetu Nayyer vs. ACIT and Smt. Meena Nayyar vs ACIT vide ITA Nos. 6189/Del/2019 to ITA No. 6194/Del/2016-17 and ITA No. 6195/Del/2019 to ITA No. 6200/Del/2019 for assessment years 2011-12 to 2016-2017 respectively vide order dated 22.12.2020, he submitted that under identical circumstances, the Tribunal has deleted the penalty so levied by the AO and sustained by the Ld. CIT(A). He accordingly submitted that the penalty sustained by the Ld. CIT(A) deserves to be deleted. 8. Ld. DR on the other hand relied on the order of the Ld. CIT(A). He submitted that Ld. CIT(A) has given elaborate reasons as to why the penalty levied by the AO in the instant case should be sustained. He accordingly submitted that the order of the Ld. CIT(A) should be upheld. 9. I have heard the rival arguments made by both the sides and perused the material available on record. I find that AO in the instant case levied penalty of Rs. 10,000/-each u/s 271(1)(b) of the Act for assessment year 2011-12 to 2012-13 on the ground that assessee did not respond to the notice dated 5th October 2016 fixing the hearing for 25th October, 2018. I f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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