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Facts
The assessee, a credit cooperative society, filed its return declaring 'Nil' income after claiming deduction under Section 80P(2)(a)(i). The Assessing Officer completed the assessment disallowing the deduction. The assessee's appeal before the CIT(A)/NFAC was dismissed due to a delay of 435 days.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the deduction under Section 80P was allowed in a previous year based on identical facts. It also acknowledged the reason for the delay in filing the appeal. Therefore, the Tribunal set aside the CIT(A)/NFAC's order.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT(A)/NFAC erred in dismissing the appeal due to delay without adjudicating on merits and whether the deduction under Section 80P should be allowed based on parity with previous assessment years.
Sections Cited
80P(2)(a)(i), 143(3), 144B, 80P
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, PUNE BENCH “B”, PUNE
Before: SHRI MANISH BORAD & SHRI VINAY BHAMORE
Assessment Year : 2020-21 Rajarambapu Patil Nagari Vs. ITO, Ward-5, Sangli. Sah. Patsansta Maryadit Ashta, Ashta, A.P. Ashta, Tal- Walwa, Dist.- Sangli- 416301. PAN : AAAAR0355G Appellant Respondent Assessee by : Shri Umesh Kumar Mali (Virtual) Revenue by : Shri Akhilesh Srivastva Date of hearing : 16.07.2025 Date of pronouncement : 31.07.2025 आदेश / ORDER
PER VINAY BHAMORE, JM:
This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order dated 24.03.2025 passed by Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC for the assessment year 2020-21.
Facts of the case, in brief, are, that the assessee is a credit cooperative society engaged in business of providing credit facilities to its members and accepting deposits from them. The assessee cooperative society has filed its return of income declaring Nil Rs.64,72,505/- u/s 80P(2)(a)(i) of the IT Act. The case was selected for scrutiny and after considering the submissions of the assessee, the Assessing Officer completed the assessment u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 144B of the IT Act determining taxable income of Rs.64,72,504/-. The above assessed income includes disallowance of deduction u/s 80P(2)(a)(i) of the IT Act of Rs.64,72,504/-.
Since the appeal before Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC was filed belatedly i.e. with a delay of 435 days, Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee without condoning the delay and without admitting the same for adjudication on merits of the case.
It is this order against which the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal.
We have heard Ld. Counsels from both the sides and perused the material available on record including the paper book furnished by the assessee. It is the sole prayer of the counsel of the assessee that under identical facts in the case of assessee itself for assessment year 2018-19, deduction u/s 80P of the IT Act was allowed to the assessee by Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC and accordingly it was prayed before us that following the principle of parity, since the facts of the case 80P of the IT Act may kindly be allowed for this year also.
In this regard, we find that admittedly the deduction u/s 80P of the IT Act was allowed to the assessee by Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC for assessment year 2018-19. However, we also find that Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC has not condoned the delay of 435 days and the appeal of the assessee for the period under consideration was dismissed without admitting the same for adjudication on merits of the case. In this regard, Ld. Counsel of the assessee submitted before us that the Chartered Accountant, Anil Joshi who was looking after income tax matter of the assessee cooperative society died on 28.05.2022 and therefore the office bearers of the assessee society missed out to look into the matter and forgot to file the appeal within time. We find force in the above arguments of the assessee and in the interest of justice, we deem it appropriate to set-aside the ex-parte order passed by Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC and remand the matter back to his file with a direction to condone the delay and decide the appeal afresh on merits of the case as per fact and law after providing reasonable opportunity of hearing to the assessee. The assessee is also hereby directed to respond to the notices issued by Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC in this regard and produce