Loading judgment…
Facts
The assessee filed an ITR for AY 2018-19, but information revealed a large bank credit, a significant portion of which was not accounted for taxation. The Assessing Officer treated this as unexplained money under section 69A and also added back a claimed exemption for leave encashment under section 10. The CIT(Appeals) dismissed the assessee's appeal ex-parte due to non-furnishing of satisfactory evidence despite multiple opportunities.
Held
The ITAT observed that the CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal ex-parte without considering the merits. To uphold the principles of natural justice, the tribunal remitted the matter back to the CIT(Appeals) with a direction to decide the appeal afresh on merit, providing another opportunity to the assessee. The assessee was cautioned to cooperate promptly with the proceedings.
Key Issues
Addition of unexplained money under section 69A; disallowance of leave encashment exemption under section 10; ex-parte dismissal of appeal by CIT(Appeals) without merit consideration.
Sections Cited
148A(d), 148, 142(1), 142(10), 69A, 115BBE, 10
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, KOLKATA-RANCHI ‘e-COURT’, KOLKATA
Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ) & Shri Ratnesh Nandan Sahay
Per Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-President (KZ):- The present appeal is directed at the instance of assessee against the order of ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals),
Brief facts of the case are that the appellant-assessee is an individual, who filed his return of income electronically in ITR-4D on 27.08.2018 showing total income of Rs.3,16,711/- for AY 2018- 19. In this case, Jurisdictional Assessing Officer, Ward-1(1), Jamshedpur passed an order u/s 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act dated 30.03.2022, wherein it was mentioned that as per information available with the Department for AY 2018-19, Rs.50,76,014/- has been credit in the bank account of Shri Ayodhya Singh, out of which Rs.39,21,443/- has not been accounted for taxation purpose. The case of the assessee was transferred to the Assessment Unit on 17.08.2022. Notice under section 148 of the Act was issued to the assessee, but the assessee did not comply with the said notice. Notices under section 142(1) were issued several times to the assessee. In response to the said notices, the assesese furnished incomplete reply on 05.12.2022. Another notice under section 142(10 along with specific questionnaire was issued on 09.01.2023 and 24.01.2023, but in response to the said notice, the assessee neither filed any reply nor uploaded any documents in the ITBA/e-filing portal. Finally, a show-cause notice was issued to the assessee to produce the relevant documents, but the asseseee has not furnished/uploaded requisite details/documents relates to the sources of the abovementioned amount. The ld. Assessing Officer treated it as unexplained money under section 69A of the Income Tax Act and taxed under section 115BBE of the Act. On perusal of ITR filed for (A.Y. 2018-2019) Ayodhya Singh AY 2018-19, it was noticed that the assesese has claimed exemption of Rs.4,13,884/- on account of leave encashment u/s 10 of the Act. However, the assessee did not furnish any documents/evidence in support of his claim and ld. Assessing Officer added the amount to the total income of the assessee as unexplained. Finally, getting no reply from the side of assessee, the ld. Assessing Officer determined the total taxable income of the assessee at Rs.57,30,595/-. On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(Appeals).
The ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal of the assessee ex- parte as the assessee failed to produce satisfactory documentary evidences in support of his claim inspite of sufficient opportunities given.
On being aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ITAT.
It was the submission of the ld. Counsel for the assessee that the ld. CIT(Appeals) simply upholding the order of ld. Assessing Officer and without going into the merit of the case dismissed the appeal. Ld. Counsel pleaded to set aside the order of ld. CIT(Appeals).
It was the submission of the ld. Departmental Representative that sufficient opportunity was being provided to the assessee. Therefore, the ld. CIT(Appeals) has no other option except
We have heard both the sides and perused the material available on record. The ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal of the assessee ex-parte without going into the merit of the case. By considering the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, and in order to ensure the principle of natural justice, we are of the view that it is a fit case to provide one more opportunity to the assessee. Therefore, we remit the matter back to the file of ld. CIT(Appeals) with a direction to dispose of the appeal without any inference on the observations of earlier order passed by him and to decide it afresh on merit. At the same breath, we also hereby caution the assessee to promptly co-operate with the proceedings before the Ld. CIT(Appeals) failing which the Ld. CIT(Appeals) shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in accordance with law and merits of the case, based on the materials available on the record. Thus, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open Court on 25/08/2025.