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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, JAIPUR BENCHES,”A” JAIPUR
Before: DR. S. SEETHALAKSHMI, JM & SHRI RATHOD KAMLESH JAYANTBHAI, vk;dj vihy la-@ITA No.754/JP/2023
आयकर अपीलीय अधिकरण] जयपुर न्यायपीठ] जयपुर IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, JAIPUR BENCHES,”A” JAIPUR Mk0 ,l- lhrky{eh] U;kf;d lnL; ,oa Jh jkBksM deys'k t;UrHkkbZ] ys[kk lnL; ds le{k BEFORE: DR. S. SEETHALAKSHMI, JM & SHRI RATHOD KAMLESH JAYANTBHAI, vk;dj vihy la-@ITA No.754/JP/2023 fu/kZkj.k o"kZ@Assessment Years :2014-15 Ram Sahay cuke ITO, Vs. 91, Rager Mohalla Ward-01, Village -Lodhipura Sawai Madhopur Sawaimadhopur, Rajasthan LFkk;h ys[kk la-@thvkbZvkj la-@PAN/GIR No.:FIYPS 9660 D vihykFkhZ@Appellant izR;FkhZ@Respondent fu/kZkfjrh dh vksj ls@Assessee by : Shri Manish Tatiwala (CA) jktLo dh vksj ls@Revenue by: Shri Arvind Kumar (CIT) lquokbZ dh rkjh[k@Date of Hearing : 18/01/2024 mn?kks"k.kk dh rkjh[k@Date of Pronouncement: /02/2024 vkns'k@ORDER PER: RATHOD KAMLESH JAYANTBHAI, AM
This appeal filed by assesseeis arising out of the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi dated 31/10/2023 [here in after (NFAC)] for assessment year 2014-15 which in turn arise from the order dated 20.12.2019 passed under section 147of the Income Tax Act, by the Income Tax Officer, Ward-1, Sawai Madhopur [ here in after as ld. AO].
In the facts and circumstances of the appellant, the order passed was bad in law, violative of natural justice and illegal in nature and deservesto be quashed. In the facts and circumstances of the appellant, the AO erred inframing order under section 147 without issuing notice u/s 143(2) being mandatory in the case of the assessee and deservesto be cancelled. In the facts and circumstances of the appellant, the AO erred in not only ignoring the replies, but also passed hasty order on 20.12.2019, without rebutting the contentions of the assesseeand making addition for Rs. 29562900/- as unexplained investment in land without any reason or basis. In the facts and circumstances of the appellant, the AO erred in law as well as facts in makingaddition for Rs.1574460/- of cash in hand without any reason or basis. The appellant seeks your indulgence to add, delete, amend, modify any one or more of the Grounds of Appeal, before/during the hearing, before your good self.”
3. Succinctly, the fact as culled out from the records is thatthe assessee, an individual. He has filed his return of income declaring an interest income of Rs. 5689/- which has been assessed at Rs. 3,11,37,360/- by making addition for undisclosed investment in purchase of land at Rs. 2,95,62,900/- and value of cash in hand at Rs. 15,74,460/- without considering the detailed reply filed during the course of assessment
Being aggrieved by the order of the ld. AO, the assessee filed an appeal before the ld. CIT(A). The ld. CIT(A) observed that notices were issued on 18.01.2021, 16.10.2023 and 25.10.2023 requiring the assessee to file the details in support of grounds taken by the assessee. Since the assessee has not complied with the notices issued by the ld. CIT(A) he has dismissed the appeal of the assessee ex-parte order. The extract of the order of the ld. CIT(A) is reproduced as under:-
“ Discussion and Decision It is therefore seen that despite three opportunities being provided to the appellant over a span of more than two years, no response has been received from the appellant to any of the hearing notices served on it. From the above it is clear that despite several and adequate opportunities no submissions have been filed by the appellant in support of the present appeal. Hence the appeal filed by the appellant is liable to be dismissed for non-prosecution. ………………………………………………….. 6.1 In view of the above facts, it is clear that appellant is not interested in availing the opportunities provided to it of making submissions in support of the grounds of appeal filed by it. Therefore, after giving 3 notices for furnishing of submissions over a span of more than two years, the appeal is being decided based on material available and merits.
6.2 The matter has been considered. The order u/s 147 filed with Form 35 along
4 Ram Sahay vs. ITO with statement of facts and grounds of appeal have been carefully examined. Videthe hearing notices the appellant was asked to furnish submissions in support of thegrounds of appeal filed by him. However, despite the requests, the same have notbeen filed by the appellant till date despite 3 notices over a span of more than twoyears. In view of the same, there is no reason available on record for any change inthe order of the AO as even during the appellate proceedings no response wasfurnished by the appellant before the Appellate Authority to any of the notices servedon it. In view of all of the above the order u/s 147 of the AO is confirmed. Accordingly,all the grounds of appeal are dismissed.
7. In the result, the appeal of the appellant is dismissed.”
5. As the assessee did not find any favour from the order of the ld. CIT(A), the assessee has preferred the present appeal before this Tribunal on the ground as reproduced hereinabove. To support the various grounds so raised by the ld. AR of the assessee and has relied upon the following evidences in support of the contentions so raised:-
S.No. Details of Documents Page No.
ITRV dated 23.12.2015 1 2. ITRV Form No. 2 dated 23.12.2015 2 12 3. ITRV dated 25.11.2019 13 4. ITR Form No. 2 dated 25.11.2019 14 25 5. Letter Seeking Reasons 25.11.2019 26 6. Objection to Re-opening 27 35 7. Order disposing objections 36 38 8. Reply to show cause Notice 5.12.2019 39 40 9. Bank Statement Ram Sahai 41 42 10. Confirmation ORJ Developers 43 11. ITRV ORJ Developers 31.7.2014 44 12. Computation ORJ Developers 45 13. Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss a/c with annexure 46 48 14. Bank Statement ORJ Developers 49 53 15. Assessment Order u/s 153A ORJ Developers 54 56 16. CBDT Circular No. 19/2019 dated 14.08.2019 57 58 17. Press Release 14.8.2019 59 18. Certified True Copy of Note Sheet etc. 60 77
5 Ram Sahay vs. ITO 6. During the course of hearing, the ld. AR for the assessee prayed that the Id. CIT(A) has passed the ex-parte order and the assessee was not provided adequate opportunity of being heard. Thus, the assessee may be provided one more opportunity to advance his arguments/submissions before the ld. CIT(A) in the interest of equity and justice on merits. The ld. AR of the assessee raised the issue of DIN not mentioned in the order but since there is no separate ground the ld. DR objected to the prayer of the assessee.
Per contra, the ld. DR supported the orders of the lower authorities praying that the assessee was provided various opportunities by the lower authorities to argue the case but the assessee was lethargic and unserious to pursue her case and thus the order passed by the ld. CIT(A) should be sustained. As regards the DIN not mentioned the assessee has not raised the ground before the ld. CIT(A) and not in the appeal so filed by the assessee and therefore, the same cannot be adjudicated upon.
We have heard both the parties and perused the materials available on record. The Bench observed that the assessee was really lethargic and unserious in pursuing his case in spite of providing various opportunities by the ld. CIT(A) as mentioned in his order. The ld. CIT(A) noted that the 6 Ram Sahay vs. ITO assessee was provided 3 opportunity of being heard but assessee has not availed and has not filed any submission in support of the contentions so raised by the assessee. Even the bench noted that the ld. CIT(A) has not decided the appeal of the assessee on merits and has dismissed the same on account of non prosecution considering the various decisions. Before us, ld. AR for the assessee submitted evidence to support his claim and has relied upon the evidence furnished in his paper book. The ld. AR of the assessee prayed that the if given a chance the assessee has sufficient reason to substantiate his case on merits. The bench noted that the assessee because of any reasons could not advance his arguments/submissions to contest the case before the lower authorities and the ld. AR for the assessee also prayed to give one more opportunity to submit the evidences concerning the issue in question, with grounds so raised by the assessee, to decide it afresh by providing one more opportunity of hearing. Considering the specific request and since the appeal of the assessee is not decided based on the merits of the case by the ld. CIT(A) we restore the matter to the file of the ld. CIT(A) who will decide the matter in accordance with the law and after providing sufficient opportunity of being heard to the assessee. However, the assessee will not
Before parting, we may make it clear that our decision to restore the matter back to the file of the ld. CIT(A) shall in no way be construed as having any reflection or expression on the merits of the dispute, which shall be adjudicated by the ld. CIT(A) independently in accordance with law.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose. Order pronounced in the open court on 28/02/2024.