M/S. LOHAGAR DEVELOPER PVT. LTD.,KOLKATA vs. ITO, WARD - 6(1), PRESENTLY WARD - 6(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)-6 , Kolkata, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short the ‘Act’).

We have heard both the parties and perused the materials available on record. At the outset itself, the ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted before us that the assessee could not appear before Ld. CIT(A) due to pen down strike of the Income Tax Department employees. The ld. CIT(A) passed an ex-parte order without considering the merit of the grounds raised by the assessee. The ld. Counsel further submitted that the order of ld. CIT(A) stood vitiated on account of violation of principle of natural justice. He contended that in the interest of Lohagar Developer Pvt. Ltd. Assessment Year: 2014-15 justice, another opportunity to contest the appeal before the Ld. first appellate authority may be granted to the assessee.

The ld. DR, on the other hand, has not controverted the contention of the ld. Counsel for the assessee.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we note that assessee could not plead his case before ld. CIT(A). However, we note that ld CIT(A) also did not consider the appeal of the assessee on merits. We are of the view that one more opportunity should be given to the assessee to plead his case before the ld CIT(A). 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 treated as allowed.

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