Parveen Garg Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, allowed the assessee’s appeal for Assessment Year (AY) 2020-21 after holding that the assessment initiated under Section 153C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was invalid because it was based on a consolidated satisfaction note covering multiple assessment years instead of a year-specific satisfaction note. At the outset, the Tribunal condoned a delay of 24 days in filing the appeal after accepting the assessee’s explanation that the delay was neither deliberate nor intentional and had occurred because the assessee was unaware of the proceedings before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] and the passing of the appellate order. The case arose from a search conducted under Section 132 on 16 April 2019 in the case of Nitish Garg, during which cash was found and seized. During the assessment proceedings of the searched person, it was stated that out of the seized cash of ₹42 lakh, an amount of ₹22 lakh belonged to the assessee, Parveen Garg. Based on this statement, the Assessing Officer (AO) of the searched person recorded satisfaction on 29 September 2021 and transferred the seized material to the AO having jurisdiction over the assessee. Proceedings under Section 153C were initiated, resulting in an assessment under Section 153C read with Section 143(3), wherein an addition of ₹5,31,890 was made and the assessee’s income was assessed at ₹12,14,440 as against the returned income of ₹6,82,550. The CIT(A) dismissed the assessee’s appeal, leading to the present appeal before the Tribunal.
