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Facts
The assessee, a cooperative credit society, filed a NIL return claiming deduction under section 80P for A.Y. 2015-16, which the Assessing Officer denied, leading to an assessed income of Rs.17,94,037/-. The CIT(A) dismissed the assessee's subsequent appeal ex-parte due to non-compliance, prompting the assessee to appeal before the Tribunal.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal, noting no objections from the Ld. DR. Citing principles of natural justice and the assessee's grounds of appeal challenging the denial of deduction, the Tribunal set aside the CIT(A)'s ex-parte order and remitted the issue back to the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication with adequate opportunity of hearing.
Key Issues
Condonation of delay in filing the appeal before the Tribunal and the validity of the CIT(A)'s ex-parte dismissal of the appeal, specifically regarding the denial of deduction under section 80P(2)(a)(i).
Sections Cited
143(3), 263, 250, 80P, 80P(2)(a)(i), 142(1)
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “SMC” BENCH PANAJI
Before: SHRI PAVAN KUMAR GADALE
Assessee by None( Submissions dt 4-09-25) Revenue by Shri.Ish Gupta.Sr.DR सुनवाई की तारीख/Date of Hearing 15.09.2025 घोषणा की तारीख/Date of Pronouncement 16.09.2025 ORDER
PER PAVAN KUMAR GADALE, JM:
The appeal is filed by the assesse against the order of National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) Delhi / CIT(A) passed u/sec 143(3) r.w.s263 and u/sec 250 of the Act. The assessee has raised the grounds of appeal
challenging the ex-parte order of the CIT(A) sustaining the denial of claim of deduction u/sec80P2(a)(i) of the Act.
2. At the time of hearing, it was brought to the knowledge of the bench, that there is a delay in filing the appeal before the Hon’ble Tribunal and the assesse has filed an application and the affidavit for condonation of delay. Whereas, the facts mentioned in the affidavit are Kamadhenu Vivid Udheshagala Souhard Sahakari Niyamit. reasonable and the Ld. DR has no specific objections. Accordingly, condone the delay and admit the appeal.
The brief facts of the case are that, the assessee is a cooperative credit society and has filed the return of income for the A.Y 2015-16 on 15.03.2016 disclosing a total income of Rs.NIL after claiming deduction u/sec 80P of the Act.Further the case was selected for scrutiny under CASS and the Assessing officer has assessed the income of Rs.3,97,690/- and passed the order u/sec 143(3) of the Act dated 28.07.2017. Subsequently the Pr.CIT has issued the revision notice and the assessing officer was directed to pass fresh order and the revision order was passed by the Pr.CIT u/sec263 dated 28.07.2017. As per the directions the Assessing officer has issued notice u/sec 142(1) of the Act and the assesse has filed the details. The Assessing Officer (A.O) has dealt on the submissions/details of regular members and associate members and find that the assessee is not eligible for claim of deduction under section 80P of the Act and also the A.O. was not satisfied with the explanations and dealt on the provisions and judicial decisions and denied the claim of deduction u/sec80P2(a)(i) of the act of Rs.18,23,819/and assessed the total income of Rs.17,94,037/- and passed the order u/sec 143(3)r.w.s263 of the Act dated 20.08.2021.
Aggrieved by the order, the assesse has filed an appeal before the CIT(A), whereas the CIT(A) has considered the Kamadhenu Vivid Udheshagala Souhard Sahakari Niyamit. grounds of appeal
, statement of facts and findings of the AO and has issued notices of hearing and since there was no compliance by the assesse to notices. Therefore the CIT(A) considering the information on record has dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT(A), the assessee has filed an appeal before the Hon'ble Tribunal.
5. Heard the Ld.DR submissions and perused the material on record. Prima-facie the CIT(A) has passed the order considering the fact that there is no compliance nor appearance in spite of providing adequate opportunity of hearing and the notices were issued. Therefore, the CIT(A) was of the opinion that the assesse is not interested in prosecuting the appeal and passed the ex parte order. The CIT(A) has issued the notices of hearing on various dates i.e15.11.2022,14.12.2022,16.11.2023,19.12.2023&19.01.2 024 referred at Page 3 Para 4 of the order and there was no response and thus the Ld.CIT(A) came to a conclusion that the assessee is not interested and decided the appeal based on the information available on record. Whereas the assesse has raised grounds of appeal challenging the denial of claim of deduction u/sec 80P2(a)(i) of the Act made by the A.O and there could be various reasons for non appearance which cannot be overruled. Therefore, considering the facts and principles of natural justice, we shall provide with one more opportunity of hearing to the assessee to substantiate the case with evidences and information. Accordingly, set aside the order of the CIT(A)
Kamadhenu Vivid Udheshagala Souhard Sahakari Niyamit. and remit the disputed issue to the file of the CIT(A) to adjudicate afresh and the assesse should be provided adequate opportunity of hearing and shall cooperate in submitting the information for early disposal of the Appeal. And, the grounds of appeal of the assesse are allowed for statistical purpose.
6. In the result, the appeal filed by assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 16.09.2025.