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Facts
The assessee, an individual engaged in hotel business, filed an income return declaring Rs. 4,13,685/-. The return was selected for scrutiny, and notices under sections 143(2) and 142(1) were issued. The assessee failed to comply, leading the Assessing Officer to assess total income at Rs. 30,30,370/- under section 143(3). The assessee appealed to the CIT(Appeals) but did not file written submissions or appear, resulting in the dismissal of the appeal.
Held
The Tribunal, noting the principle of natural justice, decided to set aside the order of the CIT(Appeals) and remit the matter back. The assessee was granted one more opportunity to be heard, with a caution to cooperate with the proceedings. The CIT(Appeals) was given liberty to pass an appropriate order based on available materials if the assessee failed to cooperate.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT(Appeals) erred in dismissing the appeal without considering it on merit, and whether the assessee was denied natural justice.
Sections Cited
143(2), 142(1), 143(3)
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, KOLKATA-PATNA ‘e-COURT’, KOLKATA
Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ)
The present appeal is directed at the instance of assessee against the order of ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi dated 13th December, 2023 passed for Assessment Year 2017-18.
(A.Y. 2017-2018) Chandan Kumar 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual, who derives income from hotel business. The assessee filed his return of income declaring total income at Rs.4,13,685/-. The return was selected for scrutiny under CASS and notice under section 143(2) was issued on 9th August, 2018 and served on the assessee. Subsequently notice under section 142(1) was issued on 20th December, 2018 along with questionnaire and duly served upon the assessee. The assessee failed to comply with the return. Due to non-compliance by the assessee, the ld. Assessing Officer has left with no alternative but to assess the income of assessee on the basis of information/data available on the records and the assessment was completed under section 143(3) assessing the total income at Rs.30,30,370/-. On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals).
The ld. CIT(Appeals) has given several opportunities to the assesese to substantiate his claim, but the appellant did not file the written submissions and did not represent the case before the ld. CIT(Appeals). Thereafter the ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal on 13th December, 2023.
On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ITAT.
At the time of hearing, it was the submission of the ld. Counsel for the assessee that ld. CIT(Appeals) did not consider the case on merit, rather he just upheld the order passed by the ld. Assessing Officer. Therefore, he pleaded to delete the addition
At the outset, ld. D.R. brought to my notice that the assessee did not produce the relevant documents as asked by the ld. Assessing Officer during the assessment proceedings. Therefore, the ld. Assessing Officer passed the assessment order assessing the taxable income at Rs.30,30,370/-. Thereafter the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals). The ld. CIT(Appeals) has given many opportunities to the assessee and the assessee neither filed written submission nor any evidence before the ld. CIT(Appeals). He further submitted that before the ITAT, the assessee did not substantiate his claim. Therefore, he pleaded to uphold the orders passed by the revenue authorities.
I have heard the rival submissions and perused the material available on record. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to set aside the order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) in order to meet the principle of natural justice, and remit the matter back to the file of ld. CIT(Appeals) with a direction to provide one more opportunity of being heard to the assessee. At the same breath, I also hereby caution the assessee to promptly co-operate with the proceedings before the Ld. CIT(Appeals) failing which the Ld. CIT(Appeals) shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in accordance with law and merits based on the materials available on the record. Thus, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.