What did the Tribunal hold?

The Tribunal held that the CIT(A) dismissed the appeal without discussing the merits and without confirming service of notice. Therefore, the case was set aside to the CIT(A) for adjudication afresh after providing a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

The assessee filed a return of income which was later selected for scrutiny, and the Assessing Officer (AO) framed an assessment at a higher income. The assessee appealed to the CIT(A), but the appeal was dismissed for non-appearance.

What were the issues?

Whether the CIT(A) erred in dismissing the appeal without adjudicating on merits and without ensuring proper service of notice to the assessee.

M/A Agrawal Motor Store, Siwan vs ITO | ITAT Patna 2018

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, PATNA BENCH ‘SMC’, PATNA

Before: Sh. N. K. Saini

Hearing: 09.03.2018Pronounced: 12.03.2018

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL PATNA BENCH ‘SMC’, PATNA Before Sh. N. K. Saini, Accountant Member ITA No. 08/Pat./2018 : Asstt. Year : 2012-13 M/s Agarwal Motor Stores, Vs Income Tax Officer, Kachehari Station, Ward-1, Siwan Siwan (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) PAN No. AAKFA9650J Assessee by : None Revenue by : Sh. Abhay Kumar, Sr. DR Date of Hearing : 09.03.2018 Date of Pronouncement : 12.03.2018 ORDER This is an appeal by the assessee against the order dated 17.10.2017 of ld. CIT(A)-1, Jamshedpur.

Following grounds have been raised in this appeal: “1. For that the CIT(A) could not give opinion on the order of the AO who estimated income of Rs.10,36,794/- from the business of petroleum product by adopting a net profit @ 0.62% of the turnover of Rs.16,72,24,840/-. Therefore he erred on this issue.

For that the CIT(A) could not give opinion on not allowing deduction from the total income of an amount of Rs.2,00,000 the sum paid to partners toward salary.

For that the CIT(A) erred in not giving opinion on an income of Rs.60,000 from tanker plying the amount estimated by the AO.

ITA No. 08/Pat./2018 2 Agarwal Motor Stores 4. For that any other ground at the time of hearing of appeal.”

Facts of the case in brief are that the assessee filed the return of income on 03.04.2013 declaring an income of Rs.56,550/-. Later on, the case was selected for scrutiny. The AO framed the assessment at an income of Rs.9,15,816/-.

Being aggrieved the assessee carried the matter to the ld. CIT(A) who dismissed the appeal by observing as under: “Statutory notices were issued for fixing the date of hearing on 07.09.2016, 25.01.2017 and 12.10.2017. On the said dates none attended, no details were filed and also no adjournment letter was filed by the appellant.

In the result, the appeal is dismissed for statistical purposes.”

Now the assessee is in appeal. Nobody was present on behalf of the assessee neither any adjournment was sought. We, therefore, proceeded the ex-parte and the appeal is decided after hearing the ld. Sr. DR.

I have considered the submissions of ld. Sr. DR and the material available on the record. In the present case, it is an admitted fact that the appeal of the assessee was dismissed by the ld. CIT(A) in limine without discussing the issue on merit. It is also noticed that the ld. CIT(A) nowhere mentioned that the notice for hearing was served upon the assessee. It is well settled that nobody should be condemned unheard as per the maxim “audi alteram partem”. I, therefore, considering the totality of the facts of the

ITA No. 08/Pat./2018 3 Agarwal Motor Stores present case, deem it appropriate to set aside this case back to the file of the ld. CIT(A) to be adjudicated afresh in accordance with law after providing due and reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. (Order Pronounced in the Court on 12/03/2018)

Sd/- (N. K. Saini) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Dated: 12/03/2018 *Subodh*

M/A AGRAWAL MOTOR STORE,SIWAN vs. ITO, WARD-1, SIWAN

What did the Tribunal hold?

What were the facts?

What were the issues?

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