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Facts
The appeal arose from an ex-parte assessment order passed under Section 144 read with Section 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessee did not file a return of income in response to notice under Section 148. The assessment was completed based on estimated profit from bank credits and added income from house property.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the assessment orders were passed ex-parte and the assessee had not appeared before the lower authorities. In the interest of justice and fairplay, the Tribunal restored the appeal to the Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication.
Key Issues
Whether the assessment order passed ex-parte without proper opportunity of being heard to the assessee should be set aside and restored to the Assessing Officer for fresh adjudication.
Sections Cited
144, 147, 148, 44AD
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH “B”: NEW DELHI
Before: SHRI M. BALAGANESH & SHRI YOGESH KUMAR U.S.Shri Lalit Aggarwal,
O R D E R PER M. BALAGANESH, A. M.: 1. The appeal in AY 2012-13, arises out of the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [hereinafter referred to as ‘ld. NFAC’, in short] in Appeal No. ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2024-25/1071684791(1) dated 30.12.2024 against the order of assessment passed u/s 144 r.w.s. 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) dated 07.12.2019 by the Assessing Officer, ITO, Ward-23(3), Delhi (hereinafter referred to as ‘ld. AO’).
The assessee had preferred an application for adjournment before us on the date of hearing. But we find on perusal of the orders of the lower authorities, the order has been passed exparte. Hence in any event, this matter should only be restored to the lower authorities.
Accordingly, the adjournment petition of the assessee was rejected and we proceed to dispose of the appeal on hearing the Learned DR and based on materials available on record.
Further, on perusal of the order of the lower authorities, we find 3. that the lower authorities had passed the orders ex parte. In response to notice under section 148 of the Act, the assessee has not filed any return of income. The Learned AO noted that assessee was engaged in business activities and had filed his return of income for the Assessment Years 2008-09 and 2009-10. In Page 1 of the assessment order, the Learned AO had also mentioned that assessee is a proprietor of M/s Shree Bharat Textiles. Hence there is an indication that assessee must be doing some business during the year under consideration also. Since there was no representation before the Learned AO, the assessment was completed under section 144 read with section 148 of the Act on 7-12- 2019 by applying net profit rate of 8% of total credits in the bank account under section 44AD of the Act, apart from adding income from house property. Since the assessee had been filing returns of income for the earlier years, the profit percentage shown thereon would also become a relevant factor for estimation of profits. Unfortunately, the assessee could not appear before the Learned NFAC also to buttress the assessment order. Hence, in the interest of justice and fairplay, we deem it fit and appropriate to restore this appeal to file of Learned AO for de novo adjudication in accordance with law. Needless to mention that the assessee be given reasonable opportunity of being heard. The assessee is at liberty to furnish fresh evidences and additional grounds, if any, in support of his contentions. Hence, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical 4. purposes.
Order pronounced in the open court on 14/05/2025.