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Facts
The assessee, an individual, did not file an Income Tax Return for AY 2013-14. Information regarding the sale of an immovable property led to the initiation of proceedings under Section 147 and issuance of a notice under Section 148. The assessee filed a belated return but did not disclose the long-term capital gain, resulting in the Assessing Officer assessing a total income of Rs. 13,03,537/-. The ld. CIT(Appeals) subsequently dismissed the assessee's appeal ex-parte due to non-submission of documents and non-representation.
Held
The ITAT, considering the principle of natural justice, set aside the ex-parte order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals). The matter was remitted back to the ld. CIT(Appeals) with a direction to provide one more opportunity of hearing to the assessee, who was also cautioned to cooperate with the proceedings. The appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
Key Issues
The primary issue was whether the ld. CIT(Appeals) was justified in passing an ex-parte order despite alleged non-compliance by the assessee, and if the assessment of income including undisclosed long-term capital gain was valid.
Sections Cited
147, 148, 139
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘SMC’ BENCH, KOLKATA
Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ)
Assessment Year: 2013-2014 Asis Kumar Bhattacharyya,…………...……Appellant Town Hall, Post, Police Station & Dist. Purba Burdwan, Pin Code No. 713101, W.B. [PAN:BNZPB8793A] -Vs.- Income Tax Officer,…………………………...Respondent Ward-1(1), Burdwan, Aayakar Bhawan, Court Compound, Burdwan-713101, West Bengal Appearances by: Shri P.K. Ray, Advocate and Shri H. Mukhopadhyay, Advocate, appeared on behalf of the assessee Shri Manoj Kumar Pati, Addl. CIT and Shri L.N. Das, Sr. D.R., appeared on behalf of the Revenue Date of concluding the hearing: December 11, 2024 Date of pronouncing the order: January 31, 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 22nd May, 2024 passed for Assessment Year 2013-14.
(A.Y. 2013-2014) Asis Kumar Bhattacharyya 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual, who did not file his return of income for the A.Y. 2013-14. An information in Non-filer Monitoring System (NMS) was received that the assessee had sold an immovable property to Shri Prannoy Hazra on 31.01.2013 vide registered deed no. 00705 of 2013 alongwith other co-owners. Accordingly, proceedings under section 147 of the Act were initiated in the case of assesese and issued notice under section 148 of the Act on 07.03.2018 and duly served on the assessee. The assesee filed return of income declaring total income of Rs.96,070 on 04.05.2018. As the assessee did not disclose long-term capital gain at the time of filing the return under section 148 of the Act and since three was no return filed under section 139 of the Act, an amount of Rs.13,65,879/- was treated as concealed income of the assessee . Finally, ld. Assessing Officer assessed the total income at Rs.13,03,537/-. On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals).
The ld. CIT(Appeals) has given several opportunities to the assessee to substantiate his claim, but the appellant did not file the written submissions and did not represent the case before the ld. CIT(Appeals). Thereafter the ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal on 22nd May, 2024.
On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ITAT.
(A.Y. 2013-2014) Asis Kumar Bhattacharyya 5. At the time of hearing, it was the submission of the ld. Counsel for the assessee that ld. CIT(Appeals) passed an ex-parte order by upholding the order passed by the ld. Assessing Officer. Therefore, he pleaded to delete the addition made by the ld. Assessing Officer as confirmed by the ld. CIT(Appeals).
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.13,65,879/-. 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 rival submissions 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 merits of the case, based on the (A.Y. 2013-2014) Asis Kumar Bhattacharyya 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 31/01/2025.