Govind Corporation Vs DCIT (ITAT Mumbai)
Faceless notice & evidence defects quash reassessments -Excel notings & retracted statements cannot justify additions u/s 69A/69B- Reassessment orders set aside as faceless scheme ignored & invalid DIN-
The appeals arose from assessments following a search on 7‑Oct‑2021 at the Sekseria group. AO relied on excel sheets seized during the search & statements of Tarun & Nandkumar Sekseria to make additions u/s 69A/69B for unaccounted investment in land at Dhokawade.
Assessees argued that the excel sheets were mere project estimates prepared by a third party, not proof of cash payments. They retracted their statements & contended that the reassessment notices were invalid because they were issued by a Jurisdictional AO rather than a Faceless AO, contrary to section 151A, & lacked a document identification number (DIN). The Tribunal agreed. It held that the unsigned excel notings & retracted statements, without corroborative evidence, could not justify additions. It also found the reassessment notices invalid for violating the faceless scheme & for defective drafting. Consequently, the Tribunal deleted the additions, quashed the reassessment orders, & allowed all appeals.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT MUMBAI
The present batch of appeals emanates from a series of assessment and reassessment orders passed pursuant to search and survey operations conducted in the group cases of The Estate Investment Company Pvt. Ltd.[Estate] and its connected entities., [hereinafter referred to as the Sakseria Group of Companies ] The appeals have been filed against separate order passed by ld. CIT(A)-50, Mumbai. Since the core issues, factual substratum, and legal contentions are substantially common across these years, therefore, are clubbed together and are being disposed of by this consolidated order. The appeals traverse multiple assessee‟s appeals for various assessment years aggrieved by the orders of the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)–50, Mumbai.
