आयकर अपील(cid:10)य अ(cid:11)धकरण, इ(cid:15)दौर (cid:15)यायपीठ, इ(cid:15)दौर IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL INDORE BENCH, INDORE BEFORE SHRI KUL BHARAT, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI MANISH BORAD, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER ITA No.699/Ind/2019 Assessment Year:2015-16

आदेश / O R D E R PER KUL BHARAT, J.M:

This appeal by the assessee is directed against the order of ld.

Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)(in short ‘Ld. CIT(A)’, Bhopal-

3 dated 23.04.2019.

The assessee has raised following grounds of appeal:

“1. That on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in maintaining the levy of penalty under section 271AAB of the Act without properly appreciating the facts of the case and submissions made before him.

2. That on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in maintaining the levy of penalty under section 271AAB of the Act even when the show cause notice as issued for levy of penalty was defective wherein no specific charge was framed against the appellant and therefore penalty imposed on the basis of such defective notice is not maintainable in law.

3. The appellant reserves his right to add, alter and modify the grounds of appeal as taken by him.”

2. The facts giving rise to the present appeal are that a search and seizure action was carried out on the business as well as residential premises of the Moira Group of Indore including the assessee. It is observed by the Assessing Officer that during the course of search and seizure proceedings statement u/s 132(4) of the Income Tax Act 1961(hereinafter referred as the ‘Act’) was recorded wherein the assessee surrendered undisclosed income of Rs.8,00,00,000/- in various financial years after considering the seized documents in his case. Therefore, the Assessing officer issued a notice u/s 271AAB of the Act for levying penalty. In response thereto, the assessee filed written submission which was not accepted by the Assessing Officer and he passed penalty order u/s 271AAB of the Act, thereby, levied penalty @10% of the undisclosed income amounting to Rs.6,83,498/-.

3. Aggrieved against this order assessee preferred an appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) who after considering the submissions confirmed the penalty.

4. Now the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal. Ld. counsel for the assessee reiterated the submissions as made in the written synopsis. For the sake of clarity submissions of the assessee are reproduced as under:

A.1] The present appeal is filed by the assessee against the order of the Ld. CIT (A)-3, Bhopal dated 23-04-2019.

A.2] Search and seizure operations under section 132 of the Income Tax Act were carried out at the business as well as residential premises of the Moira Group of Indore including the appellant and other concerns/business associates on 17-06-2015.

A.3] The appellant accepted additional income to the tune of Rs. 8,00,00,000/- during the course of search in his statement recorded under section 132(4) of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 which was duly offered for tax in his income-tax return and legitimate amount of tax due was also paid on such additional income. The appellant subsequently also filed an affidavit dated 30-11-2015 during the course of post search proceedings wherein the break-up of additional income of Rs. 8,00,00,000/- as accepted during the course of search was given.

A.4] It was further stated that an amount of Rs. 68,34,975/- on account of investment in construction of house pertained to the previous year relevant to the Assessment Year 2015-16 and balance amount of additional income pertained to the previous year relevant to the Assessment Year 2016-17.

A.5] The income-tax return of the a