Alankar Mandir vs Commissioner of Income Tax

This is an appeal u/s 260A of IT Act (hereinafter referred to as the ''Act'') directed against the order of Tribunal dt. 20th April, 2007 for the asst. yr. 1986-87 passed in ITA No. 188/A11/1997, CIT us. Alankar Mandir Deoria.

With the consent of the parties, the appeal is being disposed of at this stage. The main question involved in the present appeal is:

Whether in view of the fact that the declaration certificate has been issued under the KVSS, 1998 for the assessment year in dispute the Tribunal was justified in deciding the appeal filed by the Revenue before the Tribunal against the order of CIT(A)?

Learned Counsel for the appellant submits that issue involved in the present case is squarely covered by the decision of Madhya Pradesh High Court in the case of Agro Engineering (MP) (P) Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, . A copy of which has been produced before this Court, in which it has been held that in case of acceptance of declaration under the KVSS, the appeals, whether by assessee or by Revenue, before the Tribunal do not survive till declaration continues to be valid, and, therefore, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to proceed with the appeal filed by the Department.

In the present case, the certificate of declaration under the KVSS Rules, 1998 for the asst. yr. 1986-87 has been issued on 13th May, 1999. A copy of the said certificate has been filed before the Tribunal along with paper book filed before the Tribunal. A copy of the paper-book is on record, which has been produced before us. It is not the case of Revenue that the said certificate has ever been cancelled or declared illegal. In view of the above, the.

Tribunal has acted illegally in proceeding to decide the appeal filed by the Revenue for the same assessment year referred hereinabove. The Division Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court in the case of Agro Engg. (M.P.) (P) Ltd. v. CIT (supra) held that in case of acceptance of declaration under the KVSS, the appeals, whether by assessee or by Revenue, before the Tribunal do not survive till declaration continues to be valid, and, therefore, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to proceed with the appeal filed by the Department.

Respectfully following the decision of Division Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court, we set aside the order of the Tribunal dt. 20th April, 2007.

Accordingly, the appeal is allowed.