MUNIVELAN KARTHIK,CHENNAI vs. ITO, NCW-9(1), CHENNAI

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual, deriving income from Partnership Business and income from house property and income from other sources and has filed his return of income on 15.02.2021 for AY 2020-21, declaring a total income of Rs.6,83,280/-. As per the information available with the department, the

Aggrieved by the order of the AO, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld.CIT(A) on 19.07.2025.

At the outset, we observed that ld.CIT(A) has provided four opportunities to the assessee to appear for hearings as detailed in paragraph 4.2 of the ld.CIT(A) order to support the appeal of the assessee. However, the assessee chose to be silent and did not respond to any of the notices and hence, the ld.CIT(A), NFAC dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee by confirming the order of the AO by passing an order dated 16.12.2025. Aggrieved by the order of the ld.CIT(A), the assessee preferred an appeal before us.

The ld.AR submitted that the assessee did not regularly check the email and income tax portal during the relevant period, and hence, the assessee was not aware of the hearing notices issued by both the AO and the ld.CIT(A). Hence, the assessee could not participate in the assessment as well as appellate proceedings. In view of the above, the ld.AR prayed that the Tribunal may be pleased to set aside the order of ld.CIT(A) and remit the issues to the file of AO. Further, ld.AR assured the bench that

Per contra, the ld.DR submitted that both the AO and the ld.CIT(A) provided sufficient opportunity to appear before them. However, the assessee has been negligent in responding to the statutory notices and hence, prayed for confirming the order of the ld.CIT(A).

We have heard the rival parties and perused the material available on record and gone through the orders of the lower authorities. We note that the AO has passed an ex-parte order by considering the information available with the department and the same has been confirmed by the ld.CIT(A), NFAC due to non-participation of the assessee.

Therefore, in the present facts and circumstances of the case and to meet the ends of justice, we are deeming it fit to provide one more opportunity to the assessee and hence we set aside the order of the ld.CIT(A) and remit the matter back to the file to ld.CIT(A) to adjudicate the matter afresh on merits in accordance to law, after providing reasonable opportunity to the assessee. Needless to say, assessee to be diligent and file written submissions and relevant documents if advised so.

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