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Facts
The assessee, a cooperative credit society, claimed Section 80P deduction for A.Y. 2017-18, which the AO denied, also making an addition under Section 68, resulting in a significantly assessed income. The CIT(A) passed an ex-parte order, granting partial relief due to the assessee's non-compliance, prompting the assessee to appeal to the Tribunal.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal. Recognizing the assessee challenged the ex-parte order and the additions, and upholding principles of natural justice, the Tribunal set aside the CIT(A)'s order and remitted the matter back to the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication, granting the assessee another opportunity to be heard.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT(A)'s ex-parte order, denying Section 80P deduction and confirming addition under Section 68, was valid without providing adequate opportunity to the assessee.
Sections Cited
143(3), 250, 80P, 142(1), 68
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 05.02.2025 घोषणा क� तार�ख/Date of Pronouncement 06.02.2025 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) and u/sec 250 of the Act.
At the time of hearing, it was found that there is a delay in filing the appeal before the Hon’ble Tribunal and the assesse has filed an affidavit along with the application for condonation of delay. Whereas, the facts mentioned in the affidavit are reasonable and sufficient cause was The Mercantile co op credit society Ltd... explained and the Ld. DR has no specific objections. Accordingly, we condone the delay and admit the appeal. The assessee has raised the grounds of appeal challenging the ex-parte order of the CIT(A).
3. 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 2017-18 on 18.11.2017 disclosing a total income of Rs. Nil after claiming deduction u/sec 80P of the Act. Subsequently the case was selected for scrutiny under CASS 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. The assesse has filed the details through ITBA and the Assessing Officer (A.O) has dealt on the submissions/details and find that the assessee society is not eligible for claim of deduction under section 80P of the Act and the A.O. was not satisfied with the explanations and dealt on the provisions and judicial decisions and denied the claim of deduction u/sec80P of the act of Rs.1,10,82,241/- and(ii) made addition under section 68 of the Act of Rs.80,33,000/- and finally assessed the total income of Rs.1,91,33,725/- and passed the order u/sec 143(3) of the Act dated 17.12.2019.
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 The Mercantile co op credit society Ltd... 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 granted the partial relief and partly allowed the appeal. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT(A), the assessee has filed an appeal before the Hon'ble Tribunal.
We 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 granting partial relief. The CIT(A) has issued the notices of hearing on various dates referred at 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 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 CIT(A) sustaining the addition made by the A.O and remit the disputed issue to the file of the The Mercantile co op credit society Ltd... 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.
In the result, the appeal filed by assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the open court on 06.02.2025.