Loading judgment…
Facts
The assessee filed an appeal with a delay of 7 days, which was condoned. The assessee's counsel argued that the impugned order was ex parte as the notice of hearing was not served, preventing the assessee from appearing. The revenue did not object to granting another opportunity.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the impugned order was passed ex parte without hearing the assessee, which violates natural justice. Therefore, the Tribunal decided to grant one more opportunity to the assessee to present their case before the Ld.CIT(A).
Key Issues
Whether the ex parte order passed by the Ld.CIT(A) without hearing the assessee is valid in light of principles of natural justice.
Sections Cited
1970-71
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘A’ BENCH: CHENNAI
Before: SHRI ABY T. VARKEY & SHRI MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL
आदेश / O R D E R
PER ABY T. VARKEY, JM:
This is an appeal preferred by the assessee against the order of the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal)/Addl./JCIT(A)-9, (hereinafter in short "the Ld.CIT(A)”), Mumbai, dated 28.03.2024 for the Assessment Year (hereinafter in short "AY”) 2011-12.
The Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that there is a delay of ‘7’ days in filing of this appeal, because, assessee was prevented by reasons beyond his control and prayed for condonation of delay, for which, the Ld.DR didn’t raise any objection and hence, we condone the delay of ‘7’ days and proceed to adjudicate the appeal on merits.
At the outset, the Ld.AR of the assessee pointed out that this is an ex parte order qua assessee and therefore prayed that one more opportunity may be granted to the assessee. According to the Ld.AR, the assessee couldn’t respond to the notice of the Ld.CIT(A), because, notice was not served upon the assessee. Therefore, assessee couldn’t respond to the notices; and the omission on the part of the assessee to appear/participate in the proceedings was not deliberate and the assessee would not gain any benefit from not participating in the appellate proceedings. Therefore, prayed for one more opportunity before the Ld.CIT(A)
Per contra, the Ld.DR doesn’t want us to give one more innings to the assessee.
Aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal.
We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. We note that the impugned order is an ex parte order qua assessee. According to the Ld.AR, the assessee has not received any notice of hearing which prevented the assessee from participating in the appellate proceedings. Be that as it may, it is noted that since the Ld.CIT(A) has passed impugned order without hearing the assessee, there is a violation of natural justice. Therefore, we are inclined to give one more opportunity to the assessee. The Ld.AR has undertaken to file all the relevant documents/written submissions before the Ld.CIT(A) provided an opportunity is granted to the assessee. Therefore, we set aside the impugned order and restore the appeal back to the file of the Ld.CIT(A) with a direction to adjudicate the grounds of appeal raised by the assessee after hearing the assessee. The assessee is directed to file written submissions/relevant documents to substantiate his grounds of appeal raised before him.
In the result, appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced on the 09th day of October, 2024, in Chennai.