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Facts
The assessee, a cooperative marketing society, filed an appeal against an order passed under section 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessee had previously filed two appeals before the FAA for the same cause of action. The first appeal was allowed and remanded, while the second was dismissed.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal. However, it was observed that for the same cause of action, one appeal was already remanded for fresh assessment, rendering the present appeal infructuous.
Key Issues
Whether the current appeal is infructuous as a previous appeal on the same cause of action was already remanded for fresh assessment.
Sections Cited
250, 147, 144, 148, 144C(1), 144, 154
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘A’ BENCH, CHENNAI
Before: SHRI GEORGE GEORGE KAND SHRI S.R. RAGHUNATHA
आदेश /O R D E R PER GEORGE GEORGE K, VICE PRESIDENT:
This appeal filed at the instance of the assessee is directed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi dated 07.12.2024 passed under section 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter called ‘the Act’). The relevant Assessment Year is 2018-19.
There is a delay of 61 days in filing the appeal before the Tribunal. The assessee has filed affidavit for condonation of delay stating therein the reasons for belated filing of this appeal. The reasons stated in the affidavit for belated filing are as follows:- “a. Decisions could not be taken immediately, due to shortage of manpower. With limited persons, the entire operations were to be managed. b. It further involved approval from the State Government departments. Therefore, the assessee was unable to decide on the further course of action and had approached their higherups for advices”
On perusal of the same, we find there is sufficient reason for delay in filing this appeal before the Tribunal. Hence, we condone the delay in filing the appeal and proceed to dispose off the appeal on merits.
Brief facts of the case are as follows:- The assessee is a Cooperative Marketing society dealing in Agricultural Products for the members of the Society and is registered with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tamilnadu. For the assessment year 2018-19, assessment order under section 147 read with section 144 was passed vide Ref. CHE-W-(146) (21) dt. 01.03.2023. Aggrieved, the assessee filed an appeal against the said order on 02.07.2023 vide appeal no. NFAC/20 17-18/ 10287055. No stay application was filed along with the appeal. On 06.08.2023, the assessee filed another appeal against the same order vide appeal no. NFAC/2017- 18/102665 16 along with an application for stay of recovery proceedings and stay of Penalty for the same assessment year. When this appeal along with the stay application for the recovery of demands as well as penalty, was filed on 06.08.2023, the first appeal filed on 02.07.2023 was pending before the first Appellate authority. The first appeal filed on 02.07.2023 by the assessee (appeal no. NFAC/2017-18/10287055) was allowed and the case was remanded back to the file of the Assessing officer for fresh assessment. The order was passed vide DIN: ITBA/ NFAC/S/250/2024-25/1070487284(1) dated 20.11.2024. The second appeal filed on 06.08.2023 by the assessee (appeal no. NEAC/2017-18/ 102665 16) was dismissed by the Commissioner (Appeals) on the ground that the assessee had not submitted replies and could not prove the source of cash deposited vide order dated 07.12.2024.
Aggrieved by the order of the First Appellate Authority dated 07.12.2024, the assessee has filed appeal before the Tribunal. The assessee has filed a paper-book consisting of notice issued u/s.148 of the Act, reasons recorded for reopening, draft assessment order passed u/s.144C(1) of the Act, Form 35A filed before the Dispute Resolution Panel, Final re-assessment order passed u/s.144 r.w.s.147 of the Act, Form 35, Appellate order, Rectification order passed u/s.154 of the Act by the FAA, the case laws relied on, etc.
The Ld.AR submitted that since the CIT(A) had disposed off the first appeal filed on 02.07.2023 vide order dated 20.11.2024 (for the same cause of action that is now filed in the present appeal), the order of the CIT(A) dated 07.12.2024 and the appeal may be treated as infructuous and dismissed.
The Ld.DR was duly heard.
We have heard rival submissions and perused the material on record. For the same cause of action, the assessee had filed two appeals before the FAA. The first appeal was filed on 02.07.2023 without stay application and the second appeal was filed on 06.08.2023 along with a stay application. The first appeal was disposed off by the FAA vide order dated 20.11.2024 by restoring the matter to the files of the AO for fresh consideration. The second appeal was disposed off by the FAA vide order dated 07.12.2024 against which the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal. Since for the same cause of action that is now raised in the present AO (vide order dated 20.11.2024 by the FAA), the present appeal is rendered infructuous, so also the order of the First Appellate Authority dated 07.12.2024. With these observations, the present appeal is disposed off.
In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is dismissed.
Order pronounced in the open court on 18th June, 2025 at Chennai.