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Facts
The assessee, a government undertaking, filed appeals against ex-parte orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) for Assessment Years 2017-18 and 2018-19. The assessee contended that the notices for hearing were sent to an incorrect email address (tdsreturn@rediffmail.com) and not to the email address registered on the portal (itax201415@yahoo.co.in), thereby denying them a reasonable opportunity of being heard. Penalty under Section 234E was also levied for delay in filing TDS returns.
Held
The Tribunal found that there was a reasonable cause for the assessee's non-appearance as the notices were indeed sent to an incorrect email ID. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the CIT(A)'s ex-parte orders for all appeals and restored the matters to the file of the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication after providing a proper opportunity of being heard to the assessee.
Key Issues
Whether the ex-parte orders passed by the CIT(A) are sustainable when notices for hearing were sent to an incorrect email address, denying the assessee a proper opportunity of being heard.
Sections Cited
234E, 250
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH, ‘A’: NEW DELHI
Before: MS. MADHUMITA ROY & SHRI BRAJESH KUMAR SINGH
Date of Hearing 19.06.2024 Date of Pronouncement 21.06.2024 ORDER PER BENCH,
This bunch of four appeals filed by the same assessee are against the respective orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), all dated 30.03.2021, New Delhi, pertaining to Assessment Years 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.
Since, the issues are common and connected, hence, the appeals were heard together and are being consolidated and disposed by this common order. In all the appeals, the assessee has taken identical grounds, which reads as under:-
“1. Hon’ble CIT has passed ex-party order without giving reasonable opportunity of being heard. 2. Ld. Assessing Officer has levied penalty u/s 234E for delay in filing of TDS return which is not justifiable and liable to set aside.”
At the time of hearing, the ld. AR submitted before us that the impugned order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) is admittedly as ex-parte one. In this regard, the Ld. AR submitted that the notices were not received by the assessee and filed a submission, which is as under:-
Under these circumstances, he humbly prayed for further opportunity of being heard by the authorities below for adjudication of the matter in its proper perspective. Such prayer made by the ld. AR has not been objected by the Ld. DR.
Having heard both the parties and having regard to the facts and the circumstances of the case, we find that there was a reasonable cause for the non-appearance of the assessee before the ld. CIT(A), since the notices of hearing were not received by them.
Therefore, in order to subserve the interest of justice and to provide an opportunity to the assessee to effectively represent its case, the order of learned CIT(A) is set aside for all the appeals and the matter is restored to the file of the ld. CIT(A) for adjudication of the same afresh. The Ld. CIT(A) will also grant a reasonable opportunity of being heard before deciding the appeals of the assessee. The grounds of all the appeals are allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, all the appeals of the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the open court on 21st June, 2024.