SRI RAMEN KUNDU,HOOGHLY vs. I.T.O WD - 2(4), HOOGHLY

The assessee in the present case is an individual, who filed his return of income for the year under consideration on 23.03.2012 declaring total income of Rs.3,42,980/-. In the assessment completed under section 143(3) vide an order dated 25.03.2014, the total income of the assessee was determined by the Assessing Officer at Rs.15,72,750/- after making an addition of Rs.12,29,730/- on account of unexplained investment allegedly made by the assessee during the year under consideration.

Against the order passed by the Assessing Officer under section 143(3), an appeal was preferred by the assessee before the ld. CIT(Appeals) and since there was no satisfactory compliance on the part of the assessee to the notices issued by him fixing the said appeal for hearing from time to time, the ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal of the assessee vide his appellate order dated 20.04.2017 passed ex-parte. Aggrieved by the order of the ld. CIT(Appeals), the assessee has preferred this appeal before the Tribunal.

I have heard the arguments of both the sides and also perused the relevant material available on record. As submitted by the ld. Counsel for the assessee, none of the notices stated to be issued by the ld. CIT(Appeals) fixing the appeal of the assessee for hearing was ever received by the assessee and this position is clearly evident from the impugned order of the ld. CIT(Appeals), where he has categorically mentioned that the notices sent by him were returned un-served with the remarks “addressee moved”. It is thus clear that there was a change in the address of the assessee during the relevant period, which resulted in non- receipt of notices of hearing sent by the ld. CIT(Appeals). The non- compliance before the ld. CIT(Appeals) on the part of the assessee thus was due to the non-receipt of the notices, which, in my opinion, constituted a sufficient cause for the non-appearance of the assessee before the ld. CIT(Appeals). I, therefore, set aside the impugned order passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) ex-parte and remit the matter back to him for disposing of the appeal of the assessee afresh on merit in accordance with law after giving the assessee proper and sufficient opportunity of being heard. As undertaken by the ld. Counsel for the assessee, the assessee shall make due compliance before the ld. CIT(Appeals) and shall extend all the possible cooperation in order to enable the ld. CIT(Appeals) to dispose of the appeal afresh expeditiously.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open Court on January 08, 2020.