आदेश / O R D E R

Per Paresh M Joshi, J.M.:

This is an Appeal filed by the Assessee under section 253 of the income tax Act 1961,[ herein after referred to as the Act for the sake of brevity] before this tribunal as & by way of a second Appeal. The Assessee is aggrieved by the order bearingNumber:-ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2024-25/1074631876(1) dated 18.03.2025 passed by the Ld. CIT(A) u/s 250 of the Act, which is herein after referred to as the “Impugned order”. The Relevant Assessment year is 2018-19 and the corresponding previous year period is from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018.

Factual Matrix

That as & by way of an Assessment Order made u/s 143(3)RWS 143(3A) & 143(3B) of the Act, the total income of the Assessee was computed and assessed at Rs.43,11,745/- .The total income as per the original ITR was at Rs(-)18,98,255/-. The addition of Rs.62,10,000/- was made by treating the said amount as bogus loans. That the aforesaid Assessment order bears Number :-ITBA/AST/S/143(3)/2020-21/1031748223(1)& that the same is dated 25/03/2021 which is herein after referred to as the “Impugned Assessment Order”.

That the case of the Assessee was selected for the Limited Scrutiny on the following issues:-

That the Assessee had filed a Return of Income on 26.10.2018 for the AY 2018-2019. There was a mismatch in Personal Expenditure reported in Audit Report & ITR & large increase in the Unsecured loans. Therefore the scrutiny.

That Notice u/s 142(1) of the Act was issued calling upon the Assessee to furnish a response. The assessee duly complied with the same by furnishing an e-response which were verified & considered. The mismatch of the personal expenditure was explained which were clarified with the evidences. The same were examined & verified.

That in order to verify the genuineness of the unsecured loans Notice(s) u/s 133(6) of the Act were issued to the parties from whom the loans were acquired/taken. Reply was not received from any of the parties to whom the Notice u/s 133(6) were issued.

A show cause notice was issued to the Assessee which read as under:-

But, none of them has complied within the stipulated time as mentioned in the notice.

In view of the above, you are requested to kindly show cause as to why the entire loan received from the above three loan creditors will not be treated as bogus loans in absence of proper verifiable evidences and will not be added back to arrive at your assessed total income.

You are requested to comply within the stipulated time allowed as mentioned in the notice.

That No response to the above show cause notice was received within the stipulated time.

That the Ld AO after taking into the Account the above facts & the circumstances which had emerged during the course of the Assessment Proceedings found that no proper Veriable evidences with regard to the genuineness of the loans acquired have been established. Therefore the Ld AO treated the sum of Rs. 62,10,000/-[in aggregate] as bogus loans & added the same to the total Income in order to arrive at the total assessed income of the Assessee Exigible to Tax.

That the Assessee being Aggrieved by the aforesaid “Impugned Assessment Order” prefers the first Appeal u/s 246A of the Act before the Ld CIT(A) who by the “Impugned Order” has dismissed the first Appeal of the grounds & Reasons stated therein. The core ground & Reasons for the Dismissal of the first Appeal was as under:-

8. DECISION:-

I have gone thru all the documents available on records.

The appellant has filed an appeal against the assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer (AO) for the Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19, in which an addition of 62,10,000 was made to the total income under section 68 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, on account of unsecured loa