PRIMARY AGRICULTURAL CREDIT CO SOCIETY,CHIKKMAGALURU vs. INCOME-TAX OFFICER, WARD-1, CHIKKMAGALUR

There is a delay of 191 days in filing this appeal before the Tribunal. The assessee has filed application for condonation of delay stating that the assessee society is in a village and CIT(Appeals) passed ex parte order which was not received by the assessee by post/mail and the assessee noticed only after receipt of demand notice from the department. Thus, there was a delay in fling the appeal before the Tribunal. The ld. AR prayed for condonation of delay due to the above reasonable cause. After hearing both the parties, it is observed that there are sufficient reasons for the delay and following the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Collector, Land Acquisition Vs. MST. Katiji and Others (1987) 167 ITR 471, delay in filing the appeal before the Tribunal is condoned.

The brief facts of the case are that the assessee filed return of income declaring income of Rs.28,180. The gross total income consisted of income from house property of Rs.78,183, income from business & profession of Rs.14,11,865 totaling to Rs.14,90,048. The assessee claimed deduction u/s. 80P of Rs.14,61,865. The case was selected for complete scrutiny and statutory notices were issued to the assessee.

The AO passed assessment order u/s. 143(3) r.w.s. 263 of the Act making certain additions. On appeal, the CIT(Appeals) issued notices for submissions and documents for which the assessee did not respond. Therefore, the CIT(Appeals) after considering the material on record dismissed the appeal of the assessee.

The ld. AR for the assessee submitted that the notices issued by the CIT(Appeals) was not received by the assessee and therefore it could not respond to the same. He submitted that the assessee is eligible for deduction u/s. 80P which was denied by the revenue authorities and the ld. CIT(Appeals) has not gone into the merits of the case. The ld. AR requested that the assessee may be granted an opportunity to represent its case before the CIT(Appeals) and stated that the assessee will comply with the appeal proceedings.

The ld. DR relied on the orders of the lower authorities and submitted that the authorities provided several opportunities, but the assessee did not comply with the same and therefore objected to another opportunity to the assessee.

Considering the rival submissions it is noticed that the assessee is a co-operative society and claimed deductions under Chapter VIA in its return of income. The AO has disallowed the claim of deduction made by the assessee. The CIT(Appeals) has passed ex parte order confirming the assessment order. According to the ld. AR, no notice has been served on the assessee. I think it fit that the assessee should be granted one more opportunity of hearing. Therefore, in the interest of justice, the matter is remitted to the file of the ld. CIT(Appeals) for fresh consideration, after providing reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee. The assessee is also directed to produce all relevant documents and make submissions in support of its claim in the proceedings and avoid seeking unnecessary adjournment for early disposal of the case and further directed to provide correct address/email id/telephone numbers for communication from the Income Tax Department .

In the result, the appeal by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.