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Facts
The assessee filed an appeal against the order of the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) for A.Y. 2012-2013, which was delayed by 159 days. The assessee attributed the delay to the casual approach of his tax professional and lack of awareness of the CIT(A) order. The Ld. Assessing Officer had passed the assessment order under Section 147/144 due to the assessee's non-compliance, and the CIT(A) confirmed the addition and dismissed the appeal for non-appearance.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the 159-day delay in filing the appeal, accepting that the assessee was prevented from filing it on time. It set aside the CIT(A) order and remitted the matter back to the CIT(A) to provide the assessee another opportunity of being heard, emphasizing the principle of natural justice. The assessee was cautioned to cooperate with future proceedings.
Key Issues
The key issues were the condonation of a 159-day delay in filing the appeal and whether the CIT(A)'s order, passed ex-parte without addressing the merits, violated principles of natural justice, necessitating a remand.
Sections Cited
147, 144
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘SMC’ BENCH, KOLKATA
Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ)
Assessment Year: 2012-2013 Niraj Kajaria,…………………………..……...……Appellant P-76D, Chetala Road, Kolkata-700027 [PAN:AFTPK7213F] -Vs.- Income Tax Officer,…………………………..…..Respondent Ward-29(4), Kolkata, Aayakar Bhawan, Dakshin, 2, Gariahat Road (South), Kolkata-700031 Appearances by: N o n e, appeared on behalf of the assessee Shri Kallol Mistry, JCIT, Sr. D.R., appeared on behalf of the Revenue Date of concluding the hearing: November 13, 2025 Date of pronouncing the order: November 17, 2025 O R D E R
The present appeal is directed at the instance of assessee against the order of Id. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), Kolkata-20 dated 13.11.2024 passed for Assessment Year 2012- 2013.
(A.Y. 2012-2013) Niraj Kajaria 2. The appeal is time barred by 159 days in filing the appeal by the assessee. However, the assessee filed a condonation petition as well as affidavit before the ITAT in support of condonation of delay of 159 days mentioning that the delay occurred due to casual approach of his tax professional, who was earlier handling income tax matters and did not give proper attention to the case and failed to inform about the expiry of the limitation period for filing the appeal. That the delay in filing the appeal was purely unintentional and occurred due to circumstances beyond his control and there was no deliberate lapse or negligence on his part. He also stated that he was not aware of any notices of hearing and the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) and when he came to know about the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals), he approached the ld. A.R. to prefer an appeal, due to that there was a delay of 159 days in filing the appeal before the Tribunal. Therefore, he pleaded to condone the delay.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the view that the assessee was prevented in filing the appeal within the stipulated time. Therefore, I am inclined to condone the delay of 159 days. Hence the delay is condoned.
None appeared on behalf of the assessee at the time of hearing. Therefore, I have decided to dispose of the appeal after hearing the ld. Departmental Representative and perusing the material available on record.
At the time of hearing, ld. Sr. Departmental Representative supported the orders of lower authorities.
I have heard the ld. Departmental Representative and perused the material available on record. A perusal of the impugned order clearly shows that as there was no response to the notices to substantiate the claim with documentary evidences and submissions, ld. CIT(Appeals) confirmed the addition made by the ld. Assessing Officer. It is also evident that the ld. CIT(Appeals) has not discussed the issue on merits and dismissed the appeal due to non-appearance. I also find that the assessment order has been passed u/s. 147/144 of the Act as the assessee remained non- compliant and failed to produce any evidence or supporting documents in support of the claim. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to set aside the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) and in order to meet the principle (A.Y. 2012-2013) Niraj Kajaria of natural justice, remit the matter back to the file of the ld. CIT(Appeals) with a direction to provide one more opportunity of being heard to the assessee. At the same breath, I also hereby caution the assessee to promptly co-operate with the proceedings before the ld. CIT(Appeals) failing which the ld. CIT(Appeals) shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in accordance with law and merits based on the materials available on the record. Thus, the grounds raised by the assessee are partly allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, appeal of the assessee stands partly allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the open Court on 17/11/2025.