INDIA POWER CORPORATION LIMITED,KOLKATA vs. DCIT, CIRCLE - 2(1), KOLKATA, 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)-1 , Kolkata, which in turn arises out of an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short the Act) dated 23.12.2016.

At the outset itself, the assessee submitted before us, by contending that the assessee could not represent his case before Ld. CIT(A) and the order being an ex- parte order, stood vitiated on account of violation of principle of natural justice.

We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. We note that the ld. CIT(A) did not consider the assessment records and did not pass order on merits based on the documents available before him hence it is a violation of principle of natural justice. We note that the ld. CIT(A) failed to determine the obligations and rights of the assessee. We note that during the appellate proceedings, the assessee appeared before the ld. CIT(A), however, ld. CIT(A) did not take into account the presence of the assessee and passed the ex parte order. We note that it is settled law that principles of natural justice and fair play require that the effected party is granted sufficient opportunity of being heard to contest his case. Hence we are of the view that one more opportunity should be given to assessee to plead his case before 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 allowed.

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