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Facts
The assessee's appeal was preferred against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre. Proceedings under section 147 of the Income Tax Act were initiated due to escaped income. The assessment order was passed ex-parte as the assessee did not appear before the Assessing Officer. The CIT(A) dismissed the assessee's appeal upholding the Assessing Officer's order.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the orders of the lower authorities were ex-parte and lacked adequate opportunity for the assessee to present their case. The dismissal of the appeal solely on procedural grounds without examining the merits was found unjustified. Therefore, the Tribunal decided to provide the assessee another opportunity.
Key Issues
Whether the dismissal of the appeal by the lower authorities on procedural grounds without examining the merits of the case is justified, and if the assessee was provided with adequate opportunity to present their case.
Sections Cited
147, 144, 250(6), 250
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “PATNA BENCH, PATNA
Before: Shri Sonjoy Sarma & Shri Rakesh Mishra
Assessment Year: 2016-17 Sangeeta Devi…………………….....…..…………………....Appellant C/o Sri Sachidanand Prasad, Mohanpur, PunPun, Patna, Bihar-804453. [PAN: CTMPD6717N] vs. ITO, Ward-6(2), Patna….….…….…............................…..…..... Respondent Appearances by: None appeared on behalf of the appellant. Shri Ashwani Kumar, Sr. DR, appeared on behalf of the Respondent. Date of concluding the hearing : January 30, 2025 Date of pronouncing the order : January 31, 2025 आदेश / ORDER
Per Sonjoy Sarma, Judicial Member:
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.
Kolkata, the 31st January, 2025.