ITO Vs Dipali Singha Roy (ITAT Kolkata)
The Revenue appealed against the order dated 30.04.2025 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), NFAC, Delhi, relating to penalty proceedings under Section 270A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Assessing Officer (AO) had levied penalty through an ex parte order dated 12.06.2023. Although the assessee did not comply with notices issued during both the assessment and appellate proceedings, the CIT(A) partly allowed relief by deleting a penalty of Rs. 73,47,400 while confirming a penalty of Rs. 4,66,462.
The Revenue challenged the deletion of the penalty relating to alleged under-reporting and misreporting of income of Rs. 1 crore received as prize money from the Sikkim State Lottery. It also contested the CIT(A)’s treatment of the prize money as turnover despite non-compliance by the assessee and rejection of books of account under Section 145(3).
Before the Tribunal, the assessee submitted that she became aware of the assessment order at a later stage and had subsequently filed an appeal in the quantum proceedings. A notice issued by the CIT(A), NFAC in the quantum appeal was produced to show that the quantum matter was pending.
The ITAT observed that the quantum appeal was still pending before the CIT(A). Accordingly, it set aside the impugned order and remanded the penalty issue to the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication along with the quantum appeal. The Revenue’s appeal was partly allowed for statistical purposes.
