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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, GAUHATI ‘E’COURT, AT KOLKATA
Before: SHRI A. T. VARKEY, JM &DR. A.L. SAINI, AM
O R D E R Per Dr. A. L. Saini: The captioned appeal filed by the assessee, pertaining to assessment year 2015-16, is directed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal)—2, Guwahati, in appeal no. 373065091240118, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short the ‘Act’) dated 29/12/2017.
Ground no.1 raised by the assessee is as follows: 1. For that in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) is highly unjustified in passing an ex parte order under section 250 of the Income Tax Act,1961 dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant without going into the merits of the case. 3.None appeared on behalf of the assessee and ld. DR was present for the revenue. We have heard ld. D.R. for the revenue and perused the material available on record. We note that the ld. CIT(A) has passed ex-parte order and did not deal with various issues raised by assessee on merits. The ld CIT(A) also did not consider the assessment records while adjudicating the issues, hence it is a violation of principle of natural justice. The ld. CIT(A) just dismissed the appeal
2 Shri Subhash Boro Assessment Year:2015-16 of the assessee on account of non-prosecution. We note that assessee’s right to file an appeal against an order of assessment passed by the Assessing Officer is a statutory right and while the assessee exercises this vested right it would be rendered meaningless, if the ld. CIT(A) decides to dismiss the appeal in limine without deciding on merits. We note that main grievance of the assessee in ground no. 1 raised by him, as noted above, is that ld. CIT(A) has dismissed the appeal of the assessee without going into the merits of the case. We note that order passed by the ld. CIT(A) is an ex parte order and assessee could not plead his case before ld. CIT(A); therefore we are of the view that one more opportunity should be given to the assessee to plead his case before ld CIT(A). The ld. DR did not have objection, if the matter is remitted back to the file of ld. CIT(A). Therefore, in the interest of justice, we restore the matter back to the file of Ld. CIT(A) for de novo adjudication and pass a speaking order on merit after affording sufficient opportunity of being heard to the assessee.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the Court on 31.07.2020