Case Law Details
Amira Pure Foods Pvt. Ltd vs. Pr CIT (ITAT Delhi)
We are of the view that the AO had issued a detailed questionnaire raising various queries. The appellant had appeared from time to time and filed the detailed replies to all the queries raised. Books of account were produced along with the supporting vouchers which were examined by the AO. The confirmed copies of account with PAN numbers of the parties to whom sales and purchases were made, were filed before the AO. The details of commission expense along with PAN numbers and TDS deducted were duly filed before the AO. The AO had raised a specific query about fresh loans raised during the year and reply was filed that no fresh loans were raised. The sales made to four/five parties as referred in the order u/s 263 of the Act has been made with profit margin of 19% which is more than the industry norm. A note was given along with the balance sheet that’s AS 11 is not applicable to the assessee. The foreign exchange fluctuation is duly recorded in the books of account. It is not the case of the ld. PCIT that Books of account have not been examined by the AO. The interest relating to the capital WIP is already capitalized by the Assessee. The assessee had made purchases/imports from two parties on CIF basis. The ld. PCIT has observed that goods have been imported from Amira C Foods International DMCC but the port of loading is Mundra port, India, whereas he has failed to consider the reply of the appellant dated 17.02.2017 that the delivery of wheat was from India at Krishna port and Mundra port since the wheat was purchased by Amira C Foods International DMCC from M/s PEC Ltd., a government of India Enterprise and M/s STC Ltd. in open tender system and wheat was dispatched directly from India from Krishna port and Mundra port to Bangladesh. It is not the case of the LD. PCIT that purchase vouchers and books of account were not produced before the AO during the course of assessment proceedings. Hence it cannot be said that this is a case of no inquiry made by the AO. Merely because the ld. PCIT feels that further inquiry should have been made does not make the order of the AO erroneous.
The assessee had filed various replies to the ld. PCIT in response to notice u/s 263 of the Act stating that all the issues raised by the ld. PCIT have been examined by the AO during the course of assessment. The ld. PCIT has ignored the replies of the assessee. He merely states that the reply has been filed by the assessee but he nowhere discusses the contentions raised by the assessee and why he does not agree with the contentions of the assessee. The ld. PCIT has merely remitted the matter back to the AO without making any inquiry himself. The ld. PCIT has mentioned that the fresh loans have not been examined by the AO. The ld. PCIT has not considered the contentions of the assessee that there is no fresh loan. Similarly, the other replies of the assessee filed during the course of assessment and in response to notice u/s 263 of the Act have been totally ignored. No inquiry has been made by the ld. PCIT. It was incumbent for the ld. PCIT to make some minimum independent inquiry to reach to the conclusion that the order of the AO is erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue. The reliance is rightly placed on the decisions of Delhi High Court in ld. PCIT v. Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Ltd. (supra) and Income Tax Officer v. DG Housing Projects Limited (supra). The Hon’ble Delhi High Court in Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Ltd. (supra) has made the following observation:
“10. For the purposes of exercising jurisdiction under Section 263 of the Act, the conclusion that the order of the AO is erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of Revenue had to be preceded by some minimal inquiry. In fact, if the ld. PCIT is of the view that the AO did not undertake any inquiry, it becomes incumbent on the LD. PCIT to conduct such inquiry.”
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