Gajanan Jagannath Kalbhor Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Pune Bench, in a recent order, has remanded a case involving an unexplained cash deposit of Rs. 28.71 lakh back to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)]. The assessee, Gajanan Jagannath Kalbhor, had appealed against an order from the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi, which had upheld an addition made under Section 69A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, by the Income Tax Officer (ITO) for Assessment Year 2012-13.
The case arose when the assessee, an individual, failed to file a return of income for A.Y. 2012-13. The Income Tax Department, based on information, noted a cash deposit of Rs. 20.44 lakh in the assessee’s Union Bank of India account. Subsequently, the case was reopened with a notice under Section 148 of the Act. The Assessing Officer (AO) also issued a show cause notice regarding other credits amounting to Rs. 8.27 lakh, bringing the total in question to Rs. 28.71 lakh. However, the assessee did not comply with these notices. After obtaining information from the bank under Section 133(6), the AO assessed the entire Rs. 28.71 lakh as unexplained money under Section 69A of the Act. When the assessee appealed to the CIT(A), they again failed to appear despite multiple opportunities, leading to the dismissal of the appeal ‘in limine’ (at the threshold, without going into merits).
