Gaffar Ebrahim Shaikh Vs ITO (ITAT Pune)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Pune, has granted a significant reprieve to Gaffar Ebrahim Shaikh, a scrap dealer facing a tax dispute amounting to over ₹3.84 crore. The Tribunal has ordered a de novo adjudication, sending the case back to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) for a fresh hearing. This decision comes after the ITAT found that the assessee’s original appeals were dismissed “in limine” for non-prosecution, without any discussion on the merits of the case.
The two appeals, pertaining to the assessment years 2013-14 and 2016-17, stemmed from a search and seizure operation conducted in the case of a cooperative credit society. Investigations revealed that the assessee had deposited large sums of cash, amounting to ₹2.14 crore for A.Y. 2013-14 and ₹1.70 crore for A.Y. 2016-17. Due to a lack of compliance from the assessee, the assessments were completed under Section 147 read with Section 144 of the Income-tax Act, with the cash deposits added as unexplained income under Section 69A.
The assessee’s initial appeals before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), or CIT(A), were dismissed for non-prosecution. During the ITAT hearing, the assessee’s counsel submitted that the non-compliance was due to family members’ ill health, which prevented him from contacting his tax consultant.
