Rajinder Singh Negi Vs ACIT (ITAT Chandigarh)
Delay Condoned, but Taxpayer Must Repay the Cost to Nature: ITAT Orders Plantation of 300 Protected Trees or 500 Trees for Procedural Non-Compliance
In a rather unusual order combining tax procedure with environmental restitution, the Chandigarh ITAT condoned a delay of 150 days in filing the assessee’s appeal, but imposed a novel condition: the assessee must plant 300 trees of local species with tree guards or 500 trees of local species without tree guards.
The Tribunal observed that the assessee’s repeated non-compliance before the lower authorities and the resultant appellate proceedings had caused avoidable administrative expenditure from public funds. It, therefore, directed the plantation as restitution for the environmental cost associated with the governmental and judicial resources consumed in the proceedings.
The assessee, Rajinder Singh Negi, was an individual residing in a remote area of Himachal Pradesh. The appeal related to AY 2015-16 and arose from an assessment completed u/s 143(3) on 13.11.2017.
The AO made three principal adjustments. The first related to a mismatch between the entries appearing in Form 26AS and the return of income. The second concerned agricultural income declared by the assessee, which according to the AO was substantial and had not been supported with adequate evidence. The third was an ad hoc disallowance of 10% of the expenses claimed.
