NARAYANPET ABDULLA,ADONI vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER,WARD -1, ADONI

At the outset, it was submitted by the ld.AR that the lower authorities have passed ex-parte order during the Covid time and on account of Covid, the assessee was not able to participate in the proceedings before the lower authorities’ proceedings. It was submitted by the ld.AR that the matter may be remitted back to the Assessing Officer for denovo passing of the assessment order. The Ld.AR had drawn our attention to paragraph 4.1 of the impugned order, wherein it was mentioned as under:- “4.1 During the appellate proceedings, various notices under section 250 of the Act were issued through ITBA portal to the appellant by dated 04.02.2020, 23.12.2020 and 08.12.2021. It has been noted from the appeal record that the appellant was given opportunity to present its appeal by way of written submission and supporting documents/ evidences. However the assessee failed to comply with any reply/submission. The appellant has not made any written submission and has only furnished copy of the assessment order, grounds of pale in the statement of facts in form No. 35. In view of the above the appeal is decided on the basis of the fact on material on record.”

Per contra, the ld.DR has not raised any objection for remanding the matter back to the file of lower authorities. We have heard the rival contentions of both the parties 4. and perused the material available on record and also the order passed by the lower authorities. As the assessment order as well as the appellate order passed ex parte, therefore, in our view, the ends of justice will be met if the matter may be sent back to the file of Assessing Officer with a direction to decide the issue after considering the documents available on record and affording the opportunities of hearing to the assessee in accordance with the law. 5. The assessee shall be at liberty to file documents, if any, as required for proving his case and the Assessing Officer shall consider the evidences, if any, filed by the assessee. Needless to say, the Assessing Officer shall examine those documents / evidence filed by the assessee and also the other documents available on record. After considering the documents filed by the assessee and the submissions made by the assessee, the Assessing Officer shall pass a detailed speaking order dealing with the contentions of the assessee. We have not adjudicated the other grounds on merits as we are setting aside the orders passed by the lower authorities to the file of Assessing Officer for denovo assessment. Needless to say, we have not adjudicated any other ground, all the grounds are required to be adjudicated by the CIT(Appeals) in the remand proceedings. 6. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed for statistical purposes.