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TMI Blog2021 (6) TMI 506X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on-Jurisdictional High Court, the relief should not be refused to the assessee. As per the Notification Clause C an appeal against an order passed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre under the said Scheme shall lie before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal having jurisdiction over the jurisdictional Assessing Officer. As per Section 260 A of the Income Tax Act, the appeal against the ITAT, order shall lie to The High Court and the High court had been defined under section 269 High Court means- (i) In relation to any State, the High Court for that State . Thus appeal against the tribunal ( Agra in present case )shall lie to the Hon ble Allahabad High Court and therefore the decision rendered by Hon ble High court is not only binding on the Tribunal but also on NFAC, ( though sitting in Delhi ) which is deciding the lis pertaining to Agra ITAT Jurisdiction (AllahabadHC Jurisdiction). The purpose of setting up of the centralized NFAC, is to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability. We have noted down the various stages of finalization of the final appellate order, however as pointed out by us, despite the binding decision of the jurisdictional High Court and tri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5/- with complete disregards to the Decision of Jurisdictional Honorable Allahabad High Court in the case of Sagan Foundry (P) Ltd. Vs CIT ( 97CCH 0160 and 145 DTR 0265) as the payments have been made before due date specified u/s 139(1) and assuch are fully allowable. ITA no 42/2021 That the appellant denies its liability to be assessed at total income of ₹ 9.45,640/- as against returned income of ₹ 8,18,607/- and accordingly denies its liability to pay tax, cess and interest demand thereon. 2. That having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, Ld. CIT(A) has erred in law and on facts in confirming the action of Ld. AO in making adjustments u/s 143(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 by disallowing the contribution received from employees towards ESI and EPF amounting to ₹ 1,27,032/- with complete disregards to the Decision of Jurisdictional Honorable Allahabad High Court in the case of Sagun Foundry (P) Ltd. Vs CIT ( 97CCH 0160 and 145 DTR 0265)as the payments have been made before due date specified u/s 139(1) andas such are fully allowable..2. That while rejecting the assessee's submissions and charging the tax under the Head & ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tribution towards ESI and PF paid after due date of respective statue but before the filling of Income Tax return due date as per section 139 (1) are allowable expenses and cannot be disallowed under section 36 (1)(va). But the Ld. Assessing Officer (CPC) without appreciating the legal position and facts of the case made the above mentioned addition and the assessee preferred an appeal before the Hon'ble CIT (A)-1, Agra against said order. And then order has been passed by CIT(A), National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi. The Hon'ble CIT (A) NFAC also confirmed theabove said addition of ₹ 17,76,883/- and passed the order against the Assessee, on 27/02/2021. Copy of order is enclosed We are reproducing herein the facts of ITA 41/2021, as facts of all the appeals are identical . Brief Facts in AY 2018-19 in ITA no 41/2021 1. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) National Faceless Appeal Centre Delhi in order dated 31/3/2021 in held as under: The present appeal has been preferred against the intimation passed by the9 CPC, Bangalore, u/s.143(1) of the I.T. Act, 1961 for the assessment year 2018-1. The appellant e-filed the appeal vide acknowle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Hence, in view of above, the issue is aptly clear that payments for labour welfare dues like PF and ESI if paid before the due date of filing of income tax return u/s 139(1) will be allowable deduction is fully covered by section 438 and as such the disallowance of ₹ 254295/- made by the Ld A.O. is bad-in-law and may kindly be deleted. Decision 3.1 .. 3.2 . 3.3 On the other hand, it was argued by the Appellant that Employee's contribution towards Provident Fund and ESI has been deposited within the time limit prescribed u/s 139(1) of the Act and accordingly contended that the same is allowed as deduction in view of provisions of section 43B of the Act. On carefully consideration of observation of Assessing Officer and contention of Appellant, I observe that entire issue is covered against Appellant by decision of Hon'ble Gujarat High Court in case of State Road Transport Corporation (366 ITR 170) wherein it is held as under: Section 43B, read with section 36(1)(va) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 Business disallowance - Certain deductions to be allowed on actual payment (employee's contribution) - whether where an employe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cision however he had relied upon the decision of the Gujrat High Court, as the issue has not been finally concluded by the apex court. Therefore he had supported the order passed by the lower authority. 4. In the rebuttal the Ld.AR for the assessee, had submitted that the tax effect in the present case is well below the limit prescribed for filing the appeal before the High Court or before the Supreme Court. It was submitted that the reliance on the Non-jurisdictional High Court judgement had resulted into burdening the litigant unnecessarily, as no appeal can be filed before the High Court against the order of the tribunal, in case the appeal of the assessee is allowed. The net result would be the same. It was submitted that the doctrine of precedent requires this tribunal to follow the decision of the jurisdictional High Court. He had also drawn our attention to the newly inserted provision of the faceless assessment and faceless appeal. 5. We have considered the rival contention of the parties and perused the material available on record, including the judgments cited at bar during the course of hearing by both the parties. From the reading of the impugned order ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at follows filing of appeal is neither electronic nor faceless. In order to ensure that the reforms initiated by the Department to eliminate human interface from the system reach the next level, it is imperative that an eappeal scheme be launched on the lines of e-assessment scheme.Accordingly, it was proposed to insert sub-section (6A) in section 250 of the Act to provide for the following: Empowering Central Government to notify an e-appeal scheme for disposal of appeal so as to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. Eliminating the interface between the Commissioner (Appeals) and the appellant in the course of appellate proceedings to the extent technologically feasible. Optimizing utilization of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation. Introducing an appellate system with dynamic jurisdiction in which appeal shall be disposed of by one or more Commissioner (Appeals). 9. Section 250 of the Act provides as under : Procedure in appeal. 250. 90 (1) The 91 [***] 92 [Commissioner (Appeals)] shall fix a day and place for the hearing of the appeal, and shall give notice of the same ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... azette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act relating to jurisdiction and procedure for disposal of appeals by Commissioner (Appeals) shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification: Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022. (6D) Every notification issued under sub-section (6B) and sub-section (6C) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.] (7) On the disposal of the appeal, the 99 [***] 1 [Commissioner (Appeals)] shall communicate the order passed by him to the assessee and to the 2 [ 3 [Principal Chief Commissioner or] Chief Commissioner or 3 [Principal Commissioner or] Commissioner]. 10. The centre while exercising its power under section 6B had introduced Faceless Appeal Scheme and made it effective from September 25, 2020. By The CBDT vide Notification bearing No. 76 77 of 2020.Some of the relevant clauses of this are reproduced hereinfor the purposes of completeness and record : In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (6C) of section 250 of the Inc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onal Faceless Appeal Centre shall upon receipt of the draft order, as referred to in sub-clause (a) of clause (xviii), - (a) where the aggregate amount of tax, penalty, interest or fee, including surcharge and cess, payable in respect of issues disputed in appeal, is more than a specified amount, as referred to in clause (x) of paragraph 13 of the said Scheme, send the draft order to an appeal unit, other than the appeal unit which prepared such order, in any one Regional Faceless Appeal Centre through an automated allocation system, for conducting review of such order. (b) in any other case, examine the draft order in accordance with the risk management strategy specified by the Board, including by way of an automated examination tool, whereupon it may decide to - i. finalise the appeal as per the draft order; or ii. send the draft order to an appeal unit, other than the unit which prepared such order, in any one Regional Faceless Appeal Centre through an automated allocation system, for conducting review of such order; (xx) the appeal unit shall review the draft order, referred to it by the National Faceless Appeal Centre, whereupon it may decide to,- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Assessing Officer. (2) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the said Scheme, where any order passed by the National Faceless Appeal Centre or Commissioner (Appeals) is set-aside and remanded back to the National Faceless Appeal Centre or Commissioner (Appeals) by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal or High Court or Supreme Court, the National Faceless Appeal Centre shall pass the order in accordance with the provisions of the said Scheme. . 11. From the reading of the notification issued by the Board, it is abundantly clear that, before passing Final appellate order in appeal,it passes through various stages of scrutiny . Firstly a draft order is proposed by AU, than it is sent to review unit ( subject to tax effect) and if review unit suggest some suggestion/s than it is assigned to another AU for concurrence or modification and thereafter final appellate order is passed by NFAC(XXii,XXiii and XXiv of notification ) .Thus enough safeguards were provided by the notification with a view to achieve its objects of impart consistency , efficiency, transparency and accountability. 12. As provided by the notification, order passed by NFAC, subject to challenge be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... law declared by the Supreme Court is binding upon all the courts with the territory of India. The law declared has to be construed as a principle of law that emanates from a judgment, or an interpretation of a law or judgment by the Supreme Court, upon which, the case is decided. Hence, it flows from the above that the law declared is the principle culled out on the reading of a judgment as a whole in the light of the questions raised,upon which the case is decided. (See: Fida Hussain v. Moradabad Development Authority (2011) 12 SCC 615; Ambica Quarry Works v. State of Gujarat (1987) 1 SCC 213; and CIT v. Sun Engg. Works (P) Ltd. (1992) 4 SCC 363). .. . The High Courts are Court of record under Article 215 of the Constitution. By virtue of the provisions of Article 227, the High Courts have power of superintendence over all Courts and tribunals in their respective jurisdiction. Thus, it is implied that all Courts and Tribunals in the respective State will be bound by the decisions of the High Court.(See: East India Commercial Co. Ltd. v. Collector of Customs, AIR 1962 SC 1893; Prakash Chandra Pathak v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1960 SC 19 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bind like cases. We do not intend to detract from the rule that, in exceptional instances where by obvious inadvertence or oversight a judgment fails to notice a plain statutory provision or obligatory authority running counter to the reasoning and result reached, it may not have the sway of binding precedents. It should be a glaring case, an obtrusive omission. The benefit of this doctrine is to provide certainty, stability, predictability and uniformity. It increases the probability of judges arriving a correct decision, on the assumption that collective wisdom is always better than that of an individual. It also preserve the institutional legitimacy and adjudicative integrity . It is flexible in nature, as there are ways to avoid precedents. It provides equality in treatment and thus prevents bias, prejudice and arbitrariness and avoids inconsistent / divergent decisions. It prevents uncertainty and ambiguity in law [Union of India v. Raghubir Singh, (1989) 2 SCC 754; and Justice R V Raveendran : Precedents Boon or Bane , (2015) 8 SCC 1 (J)]. The courts have to nurture, strengthen, perpetuate and proliferate certainty of law and not deracinate its clarity (V ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .P. High Court in State of A.P. v. CTO (1988) 169 ITR 564, held as under :- If any authority or the Tribunal refuses to follow any decision of the High Court on the above grounds, it would be clearly guilty of committing contempt of the High Court and is liable to be proceeded against. 22. The Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v. Kamlakshi Finance Corpn. Ltd. AIR 1992 SC 711; deliberately emphasized on the following It cannot be too vehemently emphasized that it is of utmost importance that, in disposing of the quasi-judicial issues before them, revenue officers are bound by the decisions of the appellate authorities. The order of the Appellate Collector is binding on the Assistant Collectors working within his jurisdiction and the order of the Tribunal is binding upon the Assistant Collectors and the Appellate Collectors who function under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. The principles of judicial discipline require that the orders of the higher appellate authorities should be followed unreservedly by the subordinate authorities. The mere fact that the order of the appellate authority is not acceptable to the Department-in itself an objectionable phra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . If the seat of the Assessing Officer were in terms of Section 127 of the Act, to govern/control the jurisdiction of the Authorities other than those listed in Section 116 of the Act, then a specific provision in terms of Note 4 in the standing order issued by the President of the Tribunal was not called for/required. Thus in terms, the above standing order where an assessment proceedings have been transferred from one place to another under Section 127 of the Act, then the bench of the Tribunal before which appeals would lie, may shift with the seat of the Assessing Officer before the filing/hearing of the appeal. Moreover, it is important to note that, the Bombay High Court Rules while providing for appeals from the Tribunal does not specifically exclude its jurisdiction in case of orders passed by the Tribunal at Mumbai or provide for the court entertaining appeals dependent upon the seat of the Assessing Officer at the time of filing the appeal. In fact, the inter se, distribution of Appeals between the different benches of this court is on the basis from where an appeal originated. Therefore, the Appellate Court from which an appeal would lie from the order of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ppeal from the order of the Tribunal is to be filed to the Court which exercises jurisdiction over the seat of the Tribunal. 15. In this case, the Karnataka High Court exercises jurisdiction over the Banglore bench of the Tribunal which has passed the impugned order dated 30th July, 2015. However, it may be pointed that Explanation to Section 127 of the Act states that once a direction has been issued therein in respect of the case i.e. Section 127 of the Act, then all Assessment proceedings under the Act in respect of any year which may be pending on the date of such order or which have been completed on or before such date would stand transferred to the transferee assessing Officer. The words all proceedings under this Act would not cover appeals under the Act before the High Court as it would run counter to Section 260A and 269 of the Act which provides specifically for the High Court which would have jurisdiction over the orders of the Tribunal. Thus, the words all proceedings under this Act have to be harmoniously read with the other provisions of the Act and have to be restricted only to the proceedings under the Act before the authorities listed in Sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the case of Sahara India Financial Services (supra) to hold that Section 127 of the Act will govern/decide the Court which will exercise jurisdiction in respect of appeals from the order of the Tribunal. We respectfully disagree with the above view of the Delhi High Court. In our view, Section 127 of the Act can only govern/control the jurisdiction of the Income Tax Authorities as defined in Section 116 of the Act. Therefore, the appeals from the order of the Tribunal to the High Court would be governed by section 260-A and 269 of the Act. 17. We note that Punjab Haryana High Court in Motorola India Ltd. (supra) has examined the identical issue and on examination of Section 127 of the Act, it held as under:- 14. A conjoint reading of the aforementioned provisions makes it evident that the Director General or Chief CIT or CIT is empowered to transfer any case from one or more AOs subordinate to him to any other AO. It also deals with the procedure when the case is transferred from one AO subordinate to a Director General or Chief CIT or CIT to an AO who is not subordinate to the same Director General, Chief CIT or CIT The aforementioned situation and t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on 269 High Court means- (i) In relation to any State, the High Court for that State . 27. Thus appeal against the tribunal ( Agra in present case )shall lie to the Hon ble Allahabad High Court and therefore the decision rendered by Hon ble High court is not only binding on the Tribunal but also on NFAC, ( though sitting in Delhi ) which is deciding the lis pertaining to Agra ITAT Jurisdiction (AllahabadHC Jurisdiction). 28. The purpose of setting up of the centralized NFAC, is to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability. We have noted down the various stages of finalization of the final appellate order, however as pointed out by us, despite the binding decision of the jurisdictional High Court and tribunal, the centralizedNFAC have chooses to contemptuously ignore the binding precedent of Jurisdictional High Court and have applied the non-jurisdictional High Court decision to deprive the assessee from the benefit of the judicial High Court decision. 29. Predictability and transparencies are important hall mark of matured Justice delivery system .The assessee ( litigant ) are expected to arrange their affairs of doing the business , profession or trade on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ;. Under Section 2(24)(x), any sum received by Assessee from his employees as contribution to any provident fund/superannuation fund or any fund set up under Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, or any other fund for welfare of such employees, constitute 'income'. In respect to such contributions deduction was allowed under Section 36(1)(va) when contributions received by employer is deposited within time prescribed, under relevant labour welfare statute. Prior to 01.04.1984, every Assessee (employer) was entitled to deduction on mercantile system of accounting as a business expenditure by making provision in his books of account in that regard and this situation continued upto 01.04.1984. An Assessee (employer), if maintaining books on accrual system of accounting, even after collecting contribution from his employee, and even without remitting the amount to Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, he i.e. Assessee (employer) would have claimed deduction as 'business expense', by merely making a provision to that effect in his books of account. A similar discrepancy was noticed in the context of sales tax where Assessee collected the same and other indirect taxes, fro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xamine judgments of various High Courts which have been rendered after considering Supreme Court judgment in Alom Extrusions Ltd. (supra) and thereafter would examine the entire aspect in totality. 17. We find that with respect to employees contribution to Provident Fund, as to whether disallowable or not with reference to Section 36(1)(va) read with Section 43B, a similar question came up for consideration before Gujarat High Court in CIT v. Gujarat State Road Transport Corpn. [2014] 366 ITR 170/223 Taxman 398/41 taxmann.com 100. Therein Assessee collected ₹ 51,06,02,712/- from its employees towards provident fund contribution but deposited ₹ 21,16,61,582/- with provident fund trust. Thus there was a short fall of ₹ 24,89,41,130/-. This amount of short fall was treated by Assessing Officer as income of Assessee vide Section 2(24)(x) read with Section 36(1)(va) of Act 1961. Assessing Officer also added ₹ 1,93,55,580/- being the amount of short fall towards employers contributory provident fund and disallowed the same under Section 43B of Act 1961. He also disallowed the said amount of ₹ 1,93,55,580/- from expenses claimed by Assessee for the A.Y. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... such there is no amendment in Section 36(1)(va) and even the Explanation to Section 36(1) (va) is not deleted and is still on the statute and is required to be complied with. Merely because with respect to the employer's contribution the second proviso to Section 43B which provided that even with respect to the employer's contribution (Section 43B(b)), the Assessee was required to credit the amount in the relevant fund under the PF Act or any other fund for the welfare of the employees on or before the due date under the relevant Act, is deleted, it cannot be said that Section 36(1)(va) has been deleted and/or amended. 19. That is how Gujrat High Court held that Section 43B would not be attracted in a case where dispute relates to employees contribution only. Section 43B would be confined only to employers contribution. It further said: Therefore, with respect to the employees contribution received by the assessee if the assessee has not credited the said sum to the employees' account in the relevant fund or funds on or before the due date mentioned in the Explanation to Section 36(1)(va), the assessee shall not be entitled to deductions of such amount in co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted to pursue to take a different view following decision of Gujrat High Court. The Division Bench judgment delivered by Hon'ble Dilip B. Bhosale, (as his lordship then was) held, if the contribution of employees fund is deposited within due date the Assessee is straightaway entitled for deduction under Section 36(1)(va). However Section 43B provides for certain deductions allowable only on actual payment. It gives an extension to the employer to make payment of contribution to provident fund or any other fund, till due date applicable for furnishing of Return under Section 139(1) of Act 1961, in respect of previous year in which liability to pay such sum was incurred, and evidence of such payment is furnished by Assessee along with such Return. Court then said: In short, this provision states, notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision contained in this Act, a deduction otherwise allowable in this Act in respect of any sum payable by the assessee as an employer by way of contribution to any fund such as provident fund shall be allowed if it is paid on or before the due date as contemplated under Section 139(1) of the Income-Tax Act. This provision has noth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tributions' to any provident fund/superannuation fund or any fund set up under Act 1948, or any other fund for welfare of such employees constitute 'income'. This is the reason why every Assessee/Employer was entitled to deduction even prior to April, 1, 1984, keeping books on mercantile system of accounting, as a business expenditure, by making provision in his books of account in that regard. Assessee was capable of keeping money with him and just by mentioning in accounts, was able to claim deduction as business expenses. Section 43B was inserted to check this practice and it resulted in discontinuing mercantile system of accounting with regard to tax, contributions etc. With induction of Section 43B an Assessee could claim deduction on actual payment basis. By Finance Act, 1988 Parliament inserted first proviso w.e.f. 01.04.1988 which inter alia provides that any sum payable by Assessee by way of tax, duty, cess or fee, if payment is made after closing of accounting year but before date of filing of Return under Section 139(1), Assessee would be entitled to deduction on actual payment basis. This proviso did not include within its ambit, contributions unde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tive of the fact that deduction in respect of sum payable by employer contribution was involved, but Court did not restrict observations, findings and declaration of law to that context but looking to the objective and purpose of insertion of Section 43B applied it to both the contributions. It also observed clearly that Section 43B is with a non-obstante clause and therefore over ride even if, anything otherwise is contained in Section 36 or any provision of Act 1961. 29. Therefore, we are clearly of the view that law laid down by High Courts of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab Haryana, Delhi, Bombay and Himachal Pradesh have rightly applied Section 43B in respect to both contributions i.e. employer and employee. Otherwise view taken by Gujrat High Court and followed by Kerala High Court, with great respect, we find expedient to dissent therewith. 32. Further we may rely on the coordinate Bench decision in the matter of R K P Company [2016] 71 taxmann.com 257 (Raipur - Trib.), which had succinctly laid down concept of Binding precedentin case of various conflicting high court decision as under : 7. As for Hon'ble Kerala High Court's decision in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dia Ltd. v. CCE C 1994 (73) ELT 769 (SC), has been summed up in the words of Lord Lohen, in case of ambiguity, a taxing statute should be construed in favour of a tax-payer does not apply to a provision giving tax-payer relief in certain cases from a section clearly imposing liability . This exception, in the present case, has no application. The rule of resolving ambiguity in favour of the assessee does not also apply where the interpretation in favour of assessee will have to treat the provisions unconstitutional, as held in the matter of State of M.P. v. Dadabhoy's New Chirmiry Ponri Hill Colliery Co. Ltd. AIR 1972 SC 614. Therefore, what follows is that in the peculiar circumstances of the case and looking to the nature of the provisions with which we are presently concerned, the view expressed by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Ansal Landmark Township (P.) Ltd. (supra), which is in favour of assessee, is required to be followed by us. Revenue does not, therefore, derive any advantage from Hon'ble Kerala High Court's decision in the case of Thomas George Muthoot (supra). 33. Further the Apex Court deprecated this practice of not foll ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nst the binding decision of Allahabad High .This practice is in contradiction of the objects for which the Notification was issued by the Board at the initiative the Hon ble Prime Minister, for creating centralized NFAC. The purpose of the scheme is to bring consistency ,transparency, efficiency, accountability and predictability. 36. Having categorically held the allowability of claim under section 43B, by Jurisdictional HC, it is not expected from the revenue to apply inapplicable and not binding decision in the present case . It would be apostle to refer the decision in the the matter of Dnyandeo Sabaji Naik ans ANR Vs Mrs. Pradnya Prakash Khadekar and ORS in Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 25331-33 OF 2015 wherein Hon,ble Supreme court had held 14. Courts across the legal system this Court not being an exception are choked with litigation. Frivolous and groundless filings constitute a serious menace to the administration of justice. They consume time and clog the Productive resources which should be deployed in the handling of genuine causes are dissipated in attending to cases filed only to benefit from delay, by prolonging dead issues and pursuing worthless cau ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ling of unnecessary litigation by the assessee.There is yet to another reason to deprecate the practice of the revenue, as the NFAC, in the case of Rajbir(supra) had granted the similar relief wide order dated 9th March 2021, thereby breaching the principle of consistency . This is a wakeup call. A good intentioned and well thought notification issued by the Board for NFAC, is not yielding the desired result on account of incorrect application of law.As notified by the board in the notification it would be using the artificial intelligence and data analytic for the smooth functioning of NFAC, in our view this should be used in all aspects. Further we expect the Board to take appropriate remedial measures at the earliest forrecalling such kind of orders, by issuing comprehensive guidelines for NFAC and give relief to the honest assessee . 38. In the light of the above said discussion,Judgments of SC and HCs,We hold that NFAC, is bound by the binding decision of the Jurisdictional Allahabad High Court, as the assessing officer is situated, within the territorial and subjective jurisdiction of High court . Hence, we allow the appeal of the assessee by respectfully following the d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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