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2021 (4) TMI 1131 - HC - Income TaxPenalty imposed u/s 271AAB - Defective notice - Non specification of clear charge - HELD THAT:- As rightly pointed out by the assessee, Section 271AAB of the Act, which deals with penalty consists of three contingencies. Therefore, the Assessing Officer should point out to the assessee as to under which of the three clauses, he chooses to proceed against the assessee so as to enable the assessee to give an effective reply. Since the same has not been mentioned, the assessee has been denied reasonable opportunity to put forth their submissions. The Tribunal, has verbatim reproduced the penalty notice and we find that the notice is absolutely vague and none of the irrelevant portions had been struck off nor the relevant portions had been marked or indicated. Hence, the Tribunal is right in observing that the penalty could not have been levied based on such defective notice and more particularly, when the assessee has been strenuously canvassing the jurisdictional issue from the inception. The decisions of the Karnataka High Court in the cases of Manjunatha Cotton and Ginning Factory [2013 (7) TMI 620 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT]and SSA's Emerald Meadows [2015 (11) TMI 1620 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT] and the decision of this Court in the case of Babuji Jacob [2020 (12) TMI 574 - MADRAS HIGH COURT] clearly support our above conclusion. For all the above reasons, we find no grounds to interfere with the common order passed by the Tribunal. - Decided in favour of assessee.
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