ITO Vs Shyam Sagar Yadav (ITAT Lucknow)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Lucknow, decided the Revenue’s appeal against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi dated 19.04.2024 for Assessment Year 2017-18. The Revenue challenged the deletion of an addition of ₹10,04,97,350 made under Section 69A read with Section 115BBE of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The Revenue’s appeal was filed with a delay of 32 days. After considering the application for condonation of delay, the Tribunal found that the delay had occurred due to bona fide reasons and was not attributable to negligence or inaction on the part of the Revenue. Accordingly, the delay was condoned and the appeal was admitted for hearing on merits.
The assessee had filed his return of income on 03.08.2017, declaring business income of ₹4,05,800 after claiming a Chapter VI deduction of ₹1,55,000. The case was selected for Limited Scrutiny through CASS to examine cash deposits made during the relevant year.
During the assessment proceedings, the Assessing Officer sought an explanation regarding the cash deposits. The assessee explained that he was working as a Bank Mitra (Banking Correspondent) for the State Bank of India (SBI) and that the cash deposited into the bank account belonged to the concerned SBI branch and represented collections made in the course of his authorised activities. The Assessing Officer did not accept this explanation and treated the entire cash deposits of ₹10,04,97,350 as unexplained money under Section 69A, making the corresponding addition.
