- (1.) THE present appeal has been filed under s. 260A of the IT Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") against the "Whether, on facts and in the circumstances of the case, the learned Tribunal was legally correct in holding that there was a reasonable cause for not getting the accounts audited as no accounts were maintained, and thus the assessee could not be penalised both under ss. 271A and 271B of the IT Act, whereas the assessee being a contractor having total receipts from contract work at Rs. 1,24,69,486 has failed to maintain books of account and has not got his accounts audited under s. 44AB of the IT Act. Thereafter, the assessee has violated the provisions contained in both the sections and he is liable for penal action both under ss. 271A and 271B of the IT Act, 1961 -
(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are as follows.
(3.) THE appeal relates to the asst. yr. 1990 -91. The respondent -assessee was a firm which had been granted registration under s. 185(1)(a) of the Act for the asst. yr. 1985 -86. It is engaged in the construction work. It had not maintained any books of account. The receipts from contract business were to the tune of Rs. 1,24,69,486. As the assessee had not maintained any books of account, it did not get its books of account audited nor submitted any audit report while filing the return of income. Penalty proceeding under s. 271B of the Act was initiated by the assessing authority who vide order has been upheld by the Tribunal. We have heard Sri A.N. Mahajan, learned standing counsel for the Revenue and Sri R.R. Kapoor, learned counsel appearing for the respondent assessee.;