THE TOLLYGUNGE CLUB LTD,TOLLYGUNGE vs. D.C.I.T.,CIRCLE-10(2), KOLKATA

The captioned appeal filed by the assessee , pertaining to assessment year 2014-15, is directed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal)-4, Kolkata in appeal no. 854/CIT(A)-4/16-17, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short the ‘Act’) dated 28/12/2016.

At the time of hearing none appeared on behalf of assessee in spite of issuance of notice for hearing more than one occasion and Ld. Departmental Representative(DR), was present for the appellant Revenue. In the absence of any The Tollygunge Club Limited Assessment Year:2014-15 appearance by the assessee, the appeal is being disposed of ex parte qua the assessee, after hearing Ld. DR for the Revenue on merits in terms of Rule 24 of the Income Tax Appellate, Tribunal, Rules, 1963.

We have heard the ld. D.R. for the revenue and perused the material available on record. The ld. D.R. for the Revenue submitted that the ld. CIT(A) did not pass order on merit and did not consider the assessment records while adjudicating the issue, hence it is a violation of principle of natural justice. The ld. D.R. therefore stated before the Bench that matter may be remitted back to the file of ld. CIT(A). We note that order passed by the ld. CIT(A) is an ex parte order and assessee could not plead his case before ld. CIT(A); therefore we are of the view that one more opportunity should be given to the assessee to plead his case before ld CIT(A).We note that it is settled law that principles of natural justice and fair play require that the affected party should be granted sufficient opportunity of being heard to plead 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 Ld.CIT(A) 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 ld. CIT(A) to adjudicate the issue afresh on merits. For statistical purposes, the appeal of the assessee is allowed.

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