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2017 (1) TMI 1094 - AT - Income TaxPenalty u/s 271(1)(c) - proof of concealment of any fact - trust denied exemption u/s 11 on the ground that income from running of newspaper had not been applied for charitable purposes - Held that:- The issue of claim of exemption in the case of the assessee has been a debatable one, as far as its appellate history goes. Relying on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of ACIT vs Thanthi Trust (2001 (1) TMI 80 - SUPREME Court ) held that the claim of the assessee is debatable. He also noted that as far as the facts and figures of income and expenditure statements are concerned, there is not dispute that the assessee had not concealed any such facts and figures. But the assessee had presumed that in its opinion, it had made a bonafide claim of exemption u/s 11 of the Act, which has been denied to it by the AO and the appellate authorities in the years under consideration. Therefore, it cannot be said that the assessee had concealed the particulars of its income or had furnished inaccurate particulars of such income. ITAT in the case of the assessee for the A.Y. 1989-90, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998- 99 and 2003-04 has explicitly recorded a finding of fact and held that the objects of trust, as a whole, are for charitable purpose falling within the meaning of section 2(15) of the Act. For the A.Y. 1998-99, 2000-01, 2003-04, 2007-08 and 2008-09, the decision has been reversed by the ITAT. Once, this proposition is accepted, the issue of grant of exemption in the case of the assessee can at best be described as a debatable issue. The learned CIT(A) relied on the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT vs. Reliance Petroproducts (P.) Ltd [2010 (3) TMI 80 - SUPREME COURT ] wherein it has been held that penalty cannot be levied merely because the AO and the assessee hold a divergent view on allowablity of a claim for deduction. - Decided in favour of assessee
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