: W.e.f. 1st June 2015, S. 269SS has been amended by the Finance Act, 2015 . As per the section no person shall take or accept from any other person, any loan or deposit or any specified sum, otherwise than by an account payee cheque or account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account; “specified sum” means any sum of money receivable, whether as advance or otherwise, concerning the transfer of immovable property, whether or not the transfer takes place.’

Such, accepting Cash as consideration for the transfer of agricultural property will be a violation of section 269SS, and consequently, the seller/depositor may receive the penalty notice u/s.271D(1) for violation of section 269SS.

Section 273B states that penalty cannot be imposed if the assessee is able to prove that there was a reasonable cause . Burden on assessee to prove that there was a reasonable cause . In PCIT v. Sahara India Financial Corpn. Ltd. (2020) 119 taxmann.com 284 (Delhi) (HC) SLP of revenue is dismissed, PCIT v. Sahara India Financial Corpn. Ltd (2020) 274 Taxman 214 (SC), dismissing the appeal of the revenue the Court held that the Tribunal is justified in deleting the penalty on ground that depositors belonged to rural areas where adequate banking facilities were not available. In CIT v. Panchsheel Owners Associations (2017) 395 ITR 380 (Guj.) (HC), Genuineness of the transaction was not in doubt . Levy of penalty was not justified .