JUDGMENT

Dama Seshadri Naidu, J. - Introduction:

A learned Division Bench of this Court at Goa has faced a precedential cleavage on an issue. That issue is, does an income tax authority's "mere failure to tick mark the applicable grounds" in the notice issued under Section 271 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ("IT Act") vitiate the entire penalty proceedings?

2. These decisions, according to the Division Bench, have answered that question in the affirmative-the failure vitiates the notice: (1) The Commissioner of Income-Tax-11 v. Shri Samson Perinchery, TXA No.1154/2014 & Ors. dtd. 05.01.2017; (2) The Principal Commissioner of Income-Tax (Central) Bengaluru v. Goa Coastal Resorts and Recreation Pvt. Ltd., TXA No.24/2019 dtd. 11.11.2019; (3) The Principal Commissioner of Income-Tax, Panaji v. New Era Sova Mind, TXA Nos.70/2019 & Ors. dtd. 18.06.2019 (TXA Nos.70/2019 & Ors, dated 18.6.2019); and (4) The Principal Commissioner of Income-Tax, Panaji v. Goa Dourado Promotions Pvt. Ltd., TXA No.18/2019 dtd. 26.11.2019.

3. On the other hand, an earlier decision by another co-equal bench, according to the referring Division Bench, has taken a contrary view: Commissioner of Income-Tax v. Smt. Kaush