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Facts
The assessee filed an application under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, which was rejected by the Ld. CIT(E) ex-parte. The assessee contended that the order was passed without verification of documents and without providing an opportunity to be heard.
Held
The Tribunal held that the Ld. CIT(E) should have provided an opportunity to the assessee to produce documents and then decided the application on its merit. The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT(E) was justified in rejecting the application ex-parte without providing an opportunity to the assessee to produce documents and present their case.
Sections Cited
80G, 1961
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI
Before: SHRI M. BALAGANESH & SH. YOGESH KUMAR U.S.
Assessee by Sh. Umesh Seth, CA Revenue by Ms. PoojaSwaroop CIT(DR) Date of Hearing 14/05/2025 Date of Pronouncement 14/05/2025 ORDER
PER YOGESH KUMAR, U.S. JM:
The present appeal is filed by the Assessee against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption)-, Delhi (‘Ld. CIT(E)’ for short) dated 27/11/2024, wherein the application filed u/s 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('Act' for short) has been rejected.
The Ld. Counsel for the Assessee submitted that the order impugned has been passed ex-parte, wherein Ld. CIT(E)has not verified the documents produced by the Appellant and without providing opportunity to the appellant to produce further documents and to make submissions, the order impugned has been passed. Thus, sought for allowing the Appeal.
The Ld. Department's Representative vehemently submitted that the appellant has failed to substantiate the claim in support of the applications filed by the Appellant. Thus, relying on the order of the Lower Authority, sought for dismissal of the Appeal.
We have heard the parties and perused the material available on record. It can be seen from the order impugned, the Ld. CIT(E) has rejected the application for want of documents to substantiate the claim of the Appellant. Considering the fact that the Assessee is claimed to be conducting charitable activities, should have provided opportunity to the appellant to produce the documents to substantiate its claim and should have decided the application on its merit. Thus, we set aside the impugned order of the Ld. CIT(E) and remand the matter to the file of Ld. CIT(E) with a direction to decide the application afresh after providing opportunity of being heard to the Appellant. The Appellant is also at liberty to cure/comply any technical objections if any in the application filed by the Appellant and also produce further documents in support of its claim.
In the result, the appeal filed by the Assessee is partly allowed for statistical purpose.
Order pronounced in the open court on 14th May , 2025