Aggarwal Engineering Co v. The Income Tax Officer-Iv(2), Jalandhar (Pb

of 2008-1- **** IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA ATCHANDIGARH Income-tax Appeal No.816of 2008 Date of decision: 1.2.2011 Aggarwal Engineering Co. ...Appellant Versus The Income Tax Officer-IV(2), Jalandhar (Pb.) ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY KUMAR MITTAL Present: Mr. K.L.Goel, Senior Advocate with Mr. Sandeep Goel, Advocate for the appellant. **** ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, J (Oral). 1.This appeal has been preferred by the assessee under Section260-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against the order dated 25.4.2008 ofthe Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Amritsar Bench, Amritsar in I.T.A.No.438(ASR)/2006 for the assessment year 1996-97 proposing to raisefollowing substantial questions of law:- i)Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case, theld. ITAT is justified to ignore the fact that no propersatisfaction has been recorded by Assessing Officer toinitiate proceedings of penalty and therefore as held bydifferent courts, no valid proceedings of penalty wereever initiated? ii)Whether, on the facts and circumstances of the case, the ld. ITAT is justified to reverse the well-reasonedorder passed by the CIT, canceling the penalty imposedu/s 271(12)(C) of Assessing Officer on the ground thatincome has been assessed by Assessing Officer onestimate basis and there is no mensrea on the part ofassessee? iii)Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case, thepenalty imposed by Assessing Officer as upheld by theTribunal is liable to be set aside taking into considerationthe final decision in the matter relating to assessment ofthe case by this Hon'ble Court?penalty imposed by Assessing Officer as upheld by theTribunal is liable to be set aside taking into considerationthe final decision in the matter relating to assessment ofthe case by this Hon'ble Court? 2.Learned counsel for the assessee points out that this appeal was deferred till decision of ITA No.478 of 2006 on the issue of quantum.The said appeal along with two other connected appeals as also appealsagainst orders of penalty i.e. ITA Nos.904 and 948 of 2008 for assessmentyears 1994-95 and 1995-96 were disposed of by this Court vide orderdated 6.12.2010. The matter was remanded to the CIT(A) for freshdecision. 3.In view of above development, this appeal is disposed of insame terms and matter is remanded to the CIT(A) for fresh decision onmerits in accordance with law. The appellant may appear before the CIT(A) for further proceedings on 14.2.2011 which is also the date given inother cases. (Adarsh Kumar Goel) Judge (Ajay Kumar Mittal) Judge