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Facts
The assessee filed an appeal against an order of the CIT(A) for AY 2016-17. There was a delay of 208 days in filing the appeal, attributed to the ill health of the Managing Director. The Revenue objected to the condonation of delay. The Tribunal condoned the delay finding reasonable cause.
Held
The Assessing Officer passed the assessment order under section 144 without giving proper opportunity to the assessee, and the CIT(A) affirmed this action. The Tribunal, in the interest of justice, deemed a denovo assessment necessary.
Key Issues
Whether the assessment order passed without affording adequate opportunity to the assessee is valid? Whether the delay in filing the appeal is liable to be condoned?
Sections Cited
144
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, AGRA BENCH ‘DB’ : AGRA.
Before: SHRI S.RIFAUR RAHMAN & SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINGH
(Assessment Year: 2016-17) LD Sarvodaya Hospital Private Limited, vs. ITO 2(1)(1), G – 11, Kamla Nagar, Agra. Agra – 282 005 (Uttar Pradesh). (PAN : AACCL7961N) (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) ASSESSEE BY : None REVENUE BY : Shri Shailendra Srivastava, Sr. DR Date of Hearing : 14.10.2025 Date of Order : 28.10.2025 O R D E R
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 14.10.2024 for the Assessment Year 2016-17.
None appeared on behalf of the assessee. We are proceeding to decide the appeal with the assistance of the ld. DR of the Revenue.
At the time of hearing, it is observed that there is a delay of 208 days in filing the appeal before the Tribunal on the ground that the Managing Director of the assessee company was suffering from ill health during the relevant period was under medical treatment and due to this, the appeal could not be filed within the prescribed time limit. It is also mentioned in the condonation application that the delay is neither intentional nor deliberate and accordingly requested to condone the delay.
On the other hand, ld. DR of the Revenue objected to the same and submitted that the delay should not be condoned.
Considered the rival submissions and the application for condonation of delay. After going through the application for condonation of delay, we observe that there was a reasonable cause in filing the appeal belatedly and accordingly, we are inclined to condone the delay.
Further at the time of hearing , we observe that Assessing Officer has passed the assessment order under section 144 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘the Act’) without giving proper opportunity to the assessee and Ld. CIT(A) affirmed the action of the AO. Ld. DR relied upon the order of the authorities below.
Considered the submissions of the ld. DR of the Revenue and perused the material on record. Upon careful consideration, we are of the considered view that in the interest of justice, the matter requires denovo assessment. Therefore, we remit back the issues to the file of the Assessing Officer with the direction 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 28th day of October, 2025.