Parivar Television Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Surat)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Surat, allowed the assessee’s appeal against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) relating to penalty imposed under Section 271D of the Income-tax Act for the block period from 1 April 1995 to 19 December 2001. Besides the original grounds challenging the penalty on merits, the assessee raised two additional grounds before the Tribunal: first, that the penalty order was barred by limitation under Section 275(1)(c), and second, that the penalty was invalid because the Assessing Officer had not recorded satisfaction for initiating penalty proceedings under Section 271D in the assessment order.
Read HC Judgmentin this case: Section 271D Penalty Cannot Survive Without Recorded Satisfaction: Gujarat HC
The assessee submitted that both additional grounds were purely legal in nature, required no fresh evidence, and arose from the existing record. Relying on judicial precedents, including the Supreme Court’s decision in National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), it sought admission of the additional grounds. The Revenue opposed the second additional ground, contending that it had been raised for the first time before the Tribunal, that no such objection had been taken during the penalty proceedings or before the CIT(A), and that failure to record satisfaction was merely a curable defect causing no prejudice to the assessee.
