SANGEETA DEVI,PATNA vs. ITO, WARD-6(2),PATNA, PATNA

The present appeal has been preferred by the assessee against the order dated 28.03.2024 of the National Faceless Appeal Centre [hereinafter referred to as ‘CIT(A)’] passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’).

No one has appeared on behalf of the assessee in spite of serving consecutive notices of hearing and the Tribunal cannot keep this appeal pending for indefinite time due to non-representation. Therefore, in the absence of any authorised representative of the assessee, we proceed to decide the appeal with the help of ld. DR and also considering the material available on record.

Brief facts of the case are that in the case of the assessee for the assessment year 2016-17, the Assessing Officer noticed that certain income was escaped. Accordingly, proceedings u/s 147 of the Act were initiated. However, from the records, it reveals that the assessee did not turn up properly before the Assessing Officer and the assessment order was passed ex parte u/s 147/144 of the Act by assessing total income of Rs.9,21,615/-.

Dissatisfied, the assessee preferred appeal before the ld. CIT(A). However, the ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee by upholding the order of the Assessing Officer as the assessee failed to submit any documentary evidence in support of his claim.

Aggrieved by the said order, the assessee filed the present appeal before this Tribunal raising various grounds. However, at the time of hearing, none appeared on behalf of the assessee.

The ld. DR supported the decisions rendered by the authorities below.

We, after hearing of the ld. DR and reviewing the materials available on record, find that the orders of the lower authorities are ex parte orders without giving the adequate opportunity to present the case by the assessee. We note that the ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee without going into merits and decided only on the ground of non-compliance on the part of the assessee. We, therefore, find that the dismissal of appeal solely on the procedural ground without examining the merits of the case which is essential u/s 250(6) of the Act, is not justified. In the interest of justice and fair play, we deem it fit to provide the assessee one more opportunity to substantiate his case to ensure just and fair assessment. We, therefore, remand back the issue to the file of the ld. CIT(A) with a direction to re-examine the case on merits after giving reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee to represent her case after submitting relevant documents. We also direct the assessee to sincerely comply with the notices issued and duly participate in the remand proceedings to avoid any further delay.

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