RAJARSHI SHAHU NAGARI SAHAKARI PAT SANSTHA LTD.,,KOLHAPUR vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER,,

The brief facts of the case as emanating from records are : The assessee is a Co-operative Society registered under Maharashtra Co- operative Societies Act, 1960. The assessee is engaged in business of accepting deposits from its members and providing credit facilities to its members. The assessee filed its return of income on 29-09-2012 declaring total income of Rs.1,36,230/-. The case of the assessee was selected for scrutiny under CASS. During the course of scrutiny assessment proceedings none appeared to the represent the assessee despite service of repeated notices. The Assessing Officer was constrained to complete the assessment u/s. 144 of the Act. The Assessing Officer rejected assessee‟s claim of deduction u/s. 80P(2)(a)(i) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as „the Act‟) Rs.31,14,730/- and assessed the total income of assessee at Rs.32,50,961/-.

The notice of the appeal was sent to the assessee through RPAD on 27-11-2018 for 19-12-2018. The notice was duly served. The Office Registry has received a letter from the assessee on 17-12-2018 seeking

Shri Yogesh Kamat for the Department submitted that the assessee did not co-operate with the authorities below and even before the Tribunal, the assessee has not bothered to represent the case. The ld. DR supported the impugned order and prayed for dismissing the appeal.

We have heard the submissions of ld. DR and have examined the material available on record. A perusal of the impugned order shows that there was delay of 35 days in filing of the first appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). The delay in filing of appeal has been attributed to the ill-health of the Secretary of the society. Taking into consideration entirety of facts and in the interest of justice, we deem it appropriate to restore appeal back to the file of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) with a direction to condone the delay and decide the appeal on merits. We would also like to record that the conduct of assessee before the authorities below is not appreciable. The assessee did not co-operate at the time of assessment proceedings, as well as before the First Appellate Authority. We direct the assessee to co-operate with the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and participate in remand proceedings. The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) is at liberty to take adverse view in case of assessee‟s non- representation/non co-operation. The impugned

In the result, the appeal of assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.