ADIREDDY SANYASI RAO,VEERAVASARAM vs. THE INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD-1, BHIMAVARAM

Delay. There was delay of 6 days in filing the appeal. The assessee filed condonation petition requesting to condone the delay. We have gone through the petition filed by the assessee and after hearing both the sides, the delay in filing the appeal is condoned.

All the grounds of appeal are related to the dismissal of appeal by the Ld.CIT(A) ex-parte without going into the merits. In this case, the ITO, Ward-1, Bhimavaram has levied penalty u/s 271B by an order dated 21.01.2015 against which the assessee filed appeal before the CIT(A) and the Ld.CIT(A) dismissed the appeal for non-prosecution.

Against the order of the Ld.CIT(A), the assessee filed appeal before this Tribunal. During the appeal hearing, the Ld.AR argued that the Ld.CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee without going into the merits. The Ld.AR further submitted that in spite of raising various grounds in appeal the Ld.CIT(A) did not adjudicate the grounds raised by the assessee, therefore, requested to remit the matter back to the file of the Ld.CIT(A) with a direction adjudicate the case on merits.

On the other hand, the Ld.DR supported the orders of the lower authorities.

We have heard both the parties and perused the material placed on record. We observe from the Ld.CIT(A)’s order that he has given sufficient opportunity to the assessee, but the assessee did not respond to the notices issued by the Ld.CIT(A),hence, he has no option except to pass orders ex- parte. However even in ex-parte order the Ld.CIT(A) required to examine the grounds and decide the appeal ground-wise on merits, but not permitted to dismiss the appeal for non prosecution. This view is up held by the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in Commissioner of Income-tax (Central), Nagpur vs Premkumar Arjundas Luthra (HUF)* reported in 69 taxmann.com 407.Therefore, we are of the considered opinion the issue needs to be remitted back to the file of the Ld.CIT(A) for deciding the appeal afresh on merits. Accordingly, we remit the matter back to the file of the CIT(A) and direct the Ld.CIT(A) to decided the appeal afresh on merits after giving opportunity of being heard to the assessee..

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.