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Facts
The assessee's appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) was decided ex-parte because the notices of hearing went into the spam folder, preventing the assessee from responding. The Ld. AR provided sufficient reasons for this, and the Ld. DR accepted these submissions.
Held
The Tribunal found that the assessee was not given a reasonable opportunity to present their case before the Ld. CIT(A). Therefore, the matter is remanded back to the Ld. CIT(A) for a fresh adjudication.
Key Issues
Whether the assessee was provided a reasonable opportunity to be heard before the Ld. CIT(A)?
Sections Cited
250, 14A, 143(3)
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, MUMBAI BENCH “F”, MUMBAI
Before: SHRI. B.R. BASKARAN & SHRI. ANIKESH BANERJEE
Instant appeal of the assessee is preferred against the order of theLearned National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [for brevity, ‘Ld.CIT(A)’] passed under section 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for brevity, the “Act”) date of order 16/07/2024. The impugned orderis emanated from the order of the Learned Income-tax Officer-17(3)(5), Mumbai, order passed under section 143(3) of the Act.
Varun Damani 2. The Ld.AR argued that the addition was made under different heads for disallowance under section 14A amount to Rs.4,00,061/-, interest income amount to Rs.2,28,150/-, Income from house property amount to Rs.3,83,000/-. The aggrieved assessee filed an appeal before the Ld. CIT(A). The Ld.CIT(A) issued the notice of hearing, but all the e-mails were gathered in the spam folder, so the assessee was not able to respond to the notices issued by the Ld. CIT(A) during appeal proceeding. The impugned appeal order was passed without considering the merit of the case and being aggrieved, the assessee filed an appeal before us.
We have considered the arguments presented by both parties and the documents on record. The appeal order was issued ex parte, without adjudicating the merits of the case. The Ld. AR provided sufficient reasons for not receiving the notices of hearing duly issued by the Ld. CIT(A). Ld. DRaccepted the submissions made by the Ld. AR and raised no significant objections.
We find that the assessee was not provided a reasonable opportunity to present their case before the Ld. CIT(A). Consequently, we are remanding the matter back to the file of Ld. CIT(A) for a fresh adjudication. We refrain from expressing any opinion on the merits of the case to avoid influencing the ongoing appeal proceedings. It is understood that the assessee should be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard in the remanded proceedings. At the same time, the assessee is expected to act with due diligence and cooperate with the Ld. CIT(A) to facilitate a swift completion of the appeal.