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Facts
The assessee filed an appeal against the order of the Ld.CIT(A) for AY 2017-18. There was a delay of 11 days in filing the appeal, which was condoned by the tribunal due to reasonable cause. The Ld.CIT(A)'s order was ex-parte as the assessee did not receive hearing notices.
Held
The tribunal noted that the Ld.CIT(A) passed an ex-parte order without considering the merits of the appeal. The assessee has a statutory right to appeal, and the Ld.CIT(A) is bound to decide the appeal on merits. Therefore, the tribunal set aside the ex-parte order.
Key Issues
Whether the ex-parte order passed by the Ld.CIT(A) is justified, and if the assessee should be given another opportunity to present their case on merits.
Sections Cited
sec.250(6) of the Income Tax Act, 1961
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘D’ BENCH: CHENNAI
Before: SHRI ABY T. VARKEY & SHRI AMITABH SHUKLA
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 (Appeals)/NFAC, (hereinafter in short "the Ld.CIT(A)”), Delhi, dated 14.03.2024 for the Assessment Year (hereinafter in short "AY”) 2017-18.
At the outset, it is noted that there is a delay of ‘11’ days in filing of this appeal and assessee has filed condonation petition. Having perused the same, we are satisfied that there is reasonable cause for delay. So, we condone the delay and proceed to adjudicate the appeal.
The Ld.AR of the assessee pointed out that the Ld.CIT(A) has passed the impugned order ex-parte qua assessee and pleaded 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 of the Ld.CIT(A) is an ex parte order without going into the merits of grounds of appeal raised by the assessee. According to the Ld.AR, the assessee didn’t receive any notices of hearing and therefore, couldn’t participate in the proceedings.
1. Be that as it may, we note that if an assessee is aggrieved by the Assessment/Orders passed by the AO, he has a statutory right to appeal against it before the First Appellate Authority (the Ld.CIT(A)), who is duty bound to decide the appeal in accordance with sub-section (6) of sec.250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter in short ‘the Act’). Therefore, in this case, we find that the Ld.CIT(A) has not decided the appeal on merits and therefore, we set aside the impugned order of the Ld.CIT(A) and restore the appeal back to his file and direct him to adjudicate the grounds of appeal raised by the assessee after hearing the assessee and (AY 2017-18) Ms. Jagadambigai pass speaking order in accordance to law; and the assessee is expected to be diligent and file written submissions/relevant documents to substantiate its case.
In the result, appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced on the 21st day of August, 2024, in Chennai.