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Facts
The assessee filed a return for AY 2012-13 declaring Rs. 11,540. Information revealed the assessee was a beneficiary of Rs. 12,00,000 through an accommodation entry, and paid a commission of Rs. 24,000. The Assessing Officer assessed total income at Rs. 12,33,540. The CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal. While the assessee did not appear, the Tribunal noted the lack of opportunity for natural justice and remitted the matter back to the CIT(Appeals) for a fresh hearing.
Key Issues
Whether the delay in filing the appeal should be condoned and if the assessee deserves another opportunity for a hearing before the CIT(Appeals) based on principles of natural justice.
Sections Cited
148, 142(1), 144
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘SMC’ BENCH, KOLKATA
Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ)
Date of concluding the hearing: April 22, 2025 Date of pronouncing the order: April 24, 2025 O R D E R
The present appeal is directed at the instance of assessee against the order of ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi dated 18th January, 2024 passed for Assessment Year 2012-13.
(A.Y. 2012-2013) M/s. Saswat Retails Pvt. Limited 2. The appeal is time barred by 278 days in filing the appeal by the assessee. However, Shri Somnath Das, Director of the assessee-company filed a condonation petition saying that the assessee was not aware of the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) and when the assessee came to know about the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals), the assessee approached the ld. A.R. to prefer an appeal, due to that there was a delay of 278 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 inclined to condone the delay since the assessee has established sufficient cause to condone the delay. 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 the material available on record.
Brief facts of the case are that the assessee-Company filed its return of income for the assessment year 2012-13 declaring total income of Rs.11,540/-. Later on, it was revealed after receipt of information from the Investigation Wing that the assessee was a beneficiary, which received sum of Rs.12,00,000/- through accommodation entry from A/c. no. 012884000000212 M/s. Invention Distributors Pvt. Limited. The entry operator charges commission @ 2% of the amount of entry accommodation, which comes to Rs.24,000/-. The ld. Assessing Officer had reason to (A.Y. 2012-2013) M/s. Saswat Retails Pvt. Limited believe that the income of the assessee escaped assessment and accordingly notice under section 148 was issued to the assesee on 29.03.2019, but the assessee did not file his return of income in response to the notice under section 148. Thereafter notice under section 142(1) was issued to the assessee but no reply to the notice was made. The assessee was given another chance for filing rely by issuing a letter dated 04.1.1.2019 to file reply before 11.11.2019 but no reply was filed by the assessee. Finally, a show-case notice was issued to the assessee on 06.12.2019 mentioning that being a time-barring matter, no further opportunity will be given to him and the case will be decided ex-parte under section 144 on the merit of the case but the assessee did not file any reply or made any representation through on line or otherwise in response to the show-cause notice, which could prove the identity and creditworthiness of the creditor and genuineness of the transaction. Getting no satisfactory response as well as supporting evidence from the side of assessee, the ld. Assessing Officer completed the assessment under section 144 of the Act assessing the total income at Rs.12,33,540/- (being total income as per return Rs.11,540/-, benefit of accommodation entry Rs.12,00,000/- and unexplained commission of Rs.24,000/-). On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals).
The ld. CIT(Appeals) has given several opportunities to the assesese to substantiate its claim, but the appellant neither filed the written submission nor represented the case before the ld. (A.Y. 2012-2013) M/s. Saswat Retails Pvt. Limited CIT(Appeals). Thereafter the ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal on 18th January, 2024.
On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ITAT.
At the outset, ld. D.R. brought to my notice that the assessee did not produce the relevant documents as asked by the ld. Assessing Officer during the assessment proceedings. Therefore, the ld. Assessing Officer passed the assessment order assessing the taxable income at Rs.12,33,540/-. Thereafter the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals). The ld. CIT(Appeals) has given many opportunities to the assessee and the assessee neither filed written submission nor any evidence before the ld. CIT(Appeals). He further submitted that before the ITAT, the assessee did not substantiate its claim. Therefore, he pleaded to uphold the orders passed by the revenue authorities.
I have heard the ld. Departmental Representative and perused the material available on record. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to set aside the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) in order to meet the principle of natural justice, and remit the matter back to the file of 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 (A.Y. 2012-2013) M/s. Saswat Retails Pvt. Limited merits based on the materials available on the record. Thus, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open Court on 24/04/2025.