Ramesh Vittal Pawar Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
Pune ITAT Restores Agricultural Income Addition for Fresh Verification After Assessee Produces Land Records and Crop Sale Evidence
The Pune ITAT held that where an assessee’s claim of agricultural income was rejected solely for want of supporting evidence during the assessment and first appellate proceedings, the matter deserved to be restored for fresh verification in the interest of justice. The Tribunal first condoned the delay of 51 days in filing the appeal, accepting the assessee’s explanation that notices had been sent to the tax consultant’s email, resulting in a communication gap, and held that the delay was neither intentional nor deliberate. On merits, it noted that the Assessing Officer had treated the entire gross agricultural receipts of ₹70.06 lakh as taxable, as the assessee had failed to furnish details of agricultural land holdings and expenditure incurred for cultivation. Before the Tribunal, however, the assessee produced a comprehensive paper book containing 7/12 land extracts, crop details, agricultural sale bills, sales ledger, bank statements and loan records to substantiate the agricultural operations. Considering these documents, the Tribunal held that the claim required proper factual verification and accordingly set aside the orders of the lower authorities, restoring the matter to the jurisdictional Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication after granting adequate opportunity of hearing.
