Neena Commercial Pvt. Ltd. Vs ACIT (OSD) (ITAT Kolkata)
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Kolkata has ruled in favor of Neena Commercial Pvt. Ltd., quashing the reassessment proceedings initiated under Section 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The case arose after the Assessing Officer (AO) reopened the assessment based on information alleging that the assessee had received accommodation entries amounting to ₹15 lakh. However, after examining the details, no addition was made regarding this amount. Instead, the AO made an unrelated addition of ₹6.38 crore related to the sale of shares of paper companies. The tribunal held that since no addition was made for the specific reason recorded for reopening, the AO lacked jurisdiction to introduce new additions.
The ITAT relied on several judicial precedents, including Jute Corporation of India Ltd. v. CIT (187 ITR 688) and National Thermal Power Co. Ltd. v. CIT (229 ITR 383), which allow assessees to raise legal issues at any appellate stage. Additionally, the tribunal cited CIT v. Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd. (Calcutta High Court), which followed CIT v. Jet Airways (Bombay High Court) and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. v. CIT (Delhi High Court), establishing that if reassessment does not include the originally alleged escaped income, the AO cannot add new income independently.
