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Facts
The assessee appealed an order affirming a penalty levied under Section 271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The appeal before the CIT(A) was dismissed due to delay in filing, and the penalty order was allegedly passed without proper opportunity to the assessee.
Held
The Tribunal restored the matter to the file of the Assessing Officer to decide the issues afresh. The Assessing Officer was directed to provide the assessee with an adequate opportunity of being heard.
Key Issues
Whether the penalty order was passed without affording proper opportunity to the assessee, and whether the matter should be remanded for fresh consideration.
Sections Cited
271(1)(c), 1961
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘E’: NEW DELHI
PER S. RIFAUR RAHMAN, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER :
The assessee has filed appeal against the order of the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [“Ld. CIT(A)”, for short] dated 20.08.2025 for the Assessment Year 2011-12 affirming the penalty order dated 19.06.2019 passed u/s 271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘the Act’).
At the outset, it was submitted by the ld. AR for the assessee that Assessing Officer has passed the penalty order u/s 271(1)(c) without giving proper opportunity to the assessee and Ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee by not condoning the delay in filing the appeal before him. Ld. DR relied upon the orders of the authorities below.
Considered the rival submissions and perused the material on record. Upon careful consideration, we are of the considered view that in the interest of justice, the matter requires to be restored to the file of Assessing Officer. Therefore, we remit back the issues to the file of the Assessing Officer with the directions to decide the same afresh, after giving adequate opportunity of being heard to the assessee, for which Ld. DR has no objection. Assessee is directed to fully cooperate with the AO during the proceedings. We hold and direct accordingly.
In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on this 11th day of December, 2025 after the conclusion of the hearing.