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TMI Blog2019 (4) TMI 504X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der dated 04/3/2014. 2. The short issue arising in the instant appeal; the ld. counsel for the assessee, Sh. Padam Bahl, not pressing Grounds 1 and 3 of the appeal, is if the impugned penalty order is barred by time and, therefore, non-est in law. 3. The brief facts of the case are that the assessee, in explanation of the deposits (at Rs. 164.64 lacs) in his bank account (with HDFC Bank, Golden Temple branch, Amritsar), stated it to be in fact the receipt of Dera Sant Amir Singh, of which he is the Mukh Sewadar (Trustee/Manager). The same did not find acceptance by the Revenue, who regarded it as the assessee's money. Assessment was accordingly made treating it as the assessee's receipt on 17/11/2011. The gross receipt exceeding Rs. 40 la ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ads as under: 'Bar of limitation for imposing penalties. 275. (1) No order imposing a penalty under this Chapter shall be passed- (a) in a case where the relevant assessment or other order is the subject-matter of an appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals) under section 246 or section 264 or an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal under section 253, after the expiry of the financial year in which the proceedings, in the course of which action for the imposition of penalty has been initiated, are completed, or six months from the end of the month in which the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) or, as the case may be, the Appellate Tribunal is received by the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner, whichever period expires later: Provided that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er, the relevant assessment order is the subject matter of appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Appellant Tribunal, the period is to be reckoned, instead of the date of the initiation of the penalty proceedings, the date of the receipt of the appellate order (s. 275(1)(a)). The exclusion of the period of adjudication under the appellate procedure is clearly to avoid multiplicity of proceedings. The imposition of penalty, where the assessment is in appeal, being inextricable related to the quantum proceedings, it is only deemed proper for the quantum proceedings to arrive at a finality, i.e., at least as far as the facts are concerned, so that the penalty proceedings are based on firm findings of fact, as determined in the appella ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns his request to the Assessing Officer in the penalty proceedings for keeping the same in abeyance. That is, there an agreement or unanimity with regard to the proceedings under appeal having a direct bearing on the issue of levy of penalty. This is of course subject to a provision therefor in law, which s. 275(1)(a) provides, as the time limitation is otherwise mandatory. There is, further, no quarrel with the proposition that the penalty proceedings get initiated with the issue of notice u/s. 274, as held in Ahuja Rice & General Mills (supra). 4.3 Sh. Bahl, upon it be so posited by the Bench during hearing, would submit that even if not independent of the quantum proceedings, the time limitation, governed as it is by law, and mandatory ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... [2009] 309 ITR 31 (Del) is on the meaning of the words 'whichever period expires later', which has no bearing or is not relevant in the present case; the penalty being admittedly in time w.r.t. s. 275(1)(a). Again, there is no dispute that the time limitation is mandatory, as held in CIT v. Chhajer Packaging & Plastics (P.) Ltd. [2008] 300 ITR 180 (Bom); that being the very premise of the instant appeal. 5. In our considered view, therefore, the impugned penalty order is not barred by time. The assessee has not made out any case on the merits of the levy of penalty; the turnover/gross receipt under question having been held in the appellate proceedings to be of the assessee. We decide accordingly. 6. In the result, the assessee's appeal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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