A K PATEL,SURAT vs. ITO, ACIT CIRCLE 3(3), SURAT

Captioned appeal filed by the assessee, pertaining to Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19, is directed against the order passed by the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), ADDL/JCIT (A)-6, Mumbai, [in short “the ld. CIT(A)”], dated 12.02.2025, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), dated 21.12.2019.

At the outset, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the order passed by the Assessing Officer is under section 143(3) of the Act. The AO noted that no reply and evidences were filed by the assessee and dismissed the assessee’s appeal. On appeal, before the ld. CIT(A), the assessee could not appear and could not submit the details and documents, therefore ld. CIT(A) has also passed the ex parte order. The Ld. Counsel for the assessee therefore contended that now the assessee is ready to submit details and documents before the lower authorities, therefore, the matter may be remitted back to the file of Assessing Officer for fresh adjudication.

On the other hand, Learned Sr. Departmental Representative (ld. DR) for the Revenue submitted that assessee was negligent during the assessment stage as well as during the appellate proceedings; therefore, appeal filed by the assessee may be dismissed.

We have heard both the parties. Considering the above facts, we note that assessee could not plead his case successfully before the ld. CIT(A). We also note that Ld. CIT(A) has not passed the order as per the mandate of provisions of section 250 of the Act. We also note that assessee did not submit entire documents and evidences before the Assessing Officer. Hence, we are of the view that one more opportunity should be given to the assessee to plead his case before the Assessing Officer. We note that it is settled law that principles of natural justice and fair play require that the affected party is granted sufficient opportunity of being heard to contest his case. Therefore, without delving much deeper into the merits of the case, in the interest of justice, we restore the matter back to the file of Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication and pass a speaking order after affording sufficient opportunity of being heard to the assessee, who in turn, is also directed to contest his stand forthwith. Therefore, we deem it fit and proper to set aside the order of the ld. CIT(A) and remit the matter back to the file of the Assessing Officer to adjudicate the issue afresh on merits. For statistical purposes, the appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed.