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2022 (7) TMI 796 - ITAT MUMBAILevy of penalty u/s 271(1)(c) - defective notice - non specification of charge - HELD THAT:- Assessing Officer should have specified the particular limb on which the penalty has been initiated for each addition, in order to give an opportunity to the assessee to defend himself for penalty against each of the additions made. Having specified that the Assessing Officer has failed to do so and has, rather, proceeded on issuing a common show cause notice for all the impugned years without striking off the irrelevant portion in the show cause notice, in the light of the decisions relied upon by the Ld.AR in the case of Mohd. Farhan A. Shaikh vs DCIT (2021 (3) TMI 608 - BOMBAY HIGH COURT] and Dilip N Shroff [2007 (5) TMI 198 - SUPREME COURT] both, the jurisdictional High Court as well as the Hon’ble Apex Court treats omnibus show-cause notices as betraying non application of mind and disapproves of the practice, to be particular, of issuing notices in printed form without deleting or striking off the inapplicable parts of that generic notice. In a plethora of judgements pertaining to this issue various courts have consistently reiterated the principle that the assessee must be informed of the grounds on which penalty proceedings are initiated, where statutory notice is a mandatory requirement. Failure to do so will vitiate penalty proceedings in toto. The judgement of the Hon’ble jurisdictional Bombay High Court in Mohd. Farhan S. Shaikh (supra) has specified that even a penal provision with civil consequences must be construed strictly and any ambiguity in this must be decided in favour of the assessee. Assessing Officer has issued a vague and defective notice under section 274 r.w.s. 271(1)(c) dated 28/12/2011 resultantly making the penalty proceedings in all the impugned assessment years vitiated and hence, all penalty orders are liable to be quashed. We, therefore, set aside the orders of the authorities below and delete the penalty levied under section 271(1)(c) of the Act, in all the assessment years under consideration. Assessee appeal allowed.
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