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Facts
The assessee, a cooperative credit society, claimed a deduction under Section 80P of the Income Tax Act for AY 2018-19, which the Assessing Officer denied, assessing total income at Rs. 33,63,420/-. The CIT(A) dismissed the assessee's appeal ex-parte due to non-compliance with hearing notices.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the CIT(A) had passed an ex-parte order. Citing principles of natural justice, the Tribunal set aside the CIT(A)'s order and remanded the matter back to the CIT(A) to provide the assessee another opportunity to substantiate its case with evidence for fresh adjudication.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT(A) was justified in dismissing the appeal ex-parte due to non-compliance, and whether the assessee is eligible for deduction under Section 80P of the Income Tax Act.
Sections Cited
80P, 250, 142(1), 143(3), 144B
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, PANAJI BENCH
Before: SHRI PAVAN KUMAR GADALE & SHRI G D PADMAHSHALI
सुनवाई क� तार�ख/Date of Hearing 06.03.2025 घोषणा क� तार�ख/Date of Pronouncement 12.03.2025 ORDER PER PAVAN KUMAR GADALE, JM: These two appeals are filed by the assesse against the separate orders of National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) Delhi / CIT(A) passed u/sec 250 of the Act. The assesse has raised the grounds of appeal challenging the order of theNFAC/ CIT(A) sustaining the denial of claim of deduction under section 80P of the Act.
2. Since issues involved in these appeals are common and identical, hence they are clubbed, heard and a consolidated order is passed. For the sake of convenience,
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 2018-19 on 02.10.2018 disclosing a total income of Rs. Nil after claiming deduction u/sec 80P of the Act. Subsequently the case was selected for limited scrutiny under the E-assessment scheme2019 and notice u/sec 142(1) of the Act was issued calling for details in respect of claims and the information supporting the return of income filed and there was no proper response. Whereas the A.O find that the assessee society is not eligible for claim of deduction under section 80P of the Act and dealt on the provisions and denied the claim of deduction u/sec80P of the act of Rs.33,63,412/-and finally assessed the total income of Rs.33,63,420/- and passed the order u/sec 143(3) r.w.s 144B of the Act dated 24.04.2021.
Aggrieved by the order, the assesse has filed an appeal before the CIT(A), whereas the CIT(A) has considered the 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.
Mahalingeshwar co op credit society Ltd... 5. At the time of hearing, the Ld.AR submitted that the CIT(A) has erred in confirming the action of the Assessing officer overlooking the information of the assessment proceedings. Further the assessee has a good case on merits and shall substantiate with the material evidences and prayed for an opportunity to explain before the lower authorities. Per Contra, the Ld.DR supported the order of the CIT(A).
We heard the rival 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 referred at Para 6 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 addition 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, we set aside the order of the Mahalingeshwar co op credit society Ltd... CIT(A) sustaining the addition made by the A.O 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, we allow the grounds of appeal of the assesse for statistical purpose. .A.Y.2020-21.
As the facts and circumstances in this appeal is identical to for the A.Y 2018-19 (except variance in figures) and further no condonation application was filed for the delay in filling the appeal before the CIT(A) and exparte order was passed. Hence the decision rendered in above paragraph 6 would apply mutatis mutandis for this appeal also. Accordingly, we allow the grounds of appeal of the assesse for statistical purposes.
In the result, the two appeals filed by the assessee are allowed for statistical purpose.
Order pronounced in the open court on 12.03.2025.