AXON MERCANTILE PVT. LTD.,KOLKATA vs. ITO, WARD-9(1), KOLKATA

The appeal is barred by limitation of 90 days. A separate application for condonation of delay has been filed, which is also supported with the affidavit of the director of the assessee company, the contents of the said affidavit are reproduced as under:

I, Satish Shaw, son of Subhash Shaw, aged, about 42 years, by religion Hindu, residing at 138/5A Narkeldanga Main Road, Kolkata-700011, do hereby solemnly affirm and state as follows- 1. That I am one of the directors of M/s Axon Mercantile Pvt. Ltd. and, as such, I am competent to swear this affidavit on behalf of the said company.

That the said appeal was dismissed by Ld. CIT(A) by passing an ex- parte order dated 17.10.2023 on the ground of absence of response from the appellant. 4. That the matter was fixed before CIT(A) on 09.02.2021, 08.09.2023, 14.09.2023 and 21.09.2023. On the first date, compliance could not be made due to covid pandemic as our office was not functioning properly. 5. That later on compliances could not be made since the accountant of the assessee-firm, Sri Manoj Jha who was solely looking after the income tax compliance work was suffering from high sugar along with various other diseases. 6. That due to such ill health condition he remained absent from office for a long-time and meanwhile the said ex-parte appellate order was passed on 17.10.2023 which remain unnoticed. 7. That on or around February, 2024 when he joined the office on a regular basis, he found that the said ex-parte order has already been passed on 17.10.2023 while checking the income tax portal. 8. That then I was informed and immediately contacted Sri Siddharth Agarwal, Advocate for filing appeal on or around the March, 2024 and handed over all the relevant papers to him. 9. That then the appeal was accordingly prepared and finally deposited in the office of the Hon'ble Tribunal on 15.03.2024with a delay of 90 days. 10. That I give an undertaking that I shall make due compliance in case the above mentioned case is sent back to the file of the lower authorities. 11. That the facts stated in para l to 9 are true to the best of my knowledge and belief and paragraph 10 is an undertaking given by me.” 3. In view of the above-reproduced averments, which have been affirmed through affidavit of the director of the assessee company, the delay in filing the present appeal is hereby condoned.

The ld. counsel has further brought our attention to the impugned order of the ld. CIT(A) to submit that the same is an ex parte order. The Assessment Year: 2012-13 Axon Mercantile Pvt. Ltd reasons for non-compliance are identical to that have been mentioned in the above-reproduced affidavit. The ld. counsel has further invited our attention to the impugned assessment order to submit that the same is also an ex parte order. The ld. counsel has submitted that even the compliances could not be made before the Assessing Officer as the assessee did not receive the notices sent by the Assessing Officer. The ld. counsel has further submitted that the assessee has fair case on merits. He has further submitted that if the assessee is not given an opportunity to contest the validity of the additions made on merits, serious prejudice will be caused to the rights of the assessee and the assessee will suffer irreparable loss and will be burdened with the taxes which the assessee is not liable to be pay at all. The ld. counsel has further invited our attention to para 10 of the affidavit to submit that the assessee has given an undertaking that he shall make due compliances and will promptly supply the necessary details as and when called for by the Assessing Officer. The ld. counsel, therefore, has submitted that the assessee may be given an opportunity to present his case before the Assessing Officer.

After considering the rival submissions, we are of the view that the interests of justice will be well-served, if the assessee is given an opportunity to present its case before the Assessing Officer. In view of this, the impugned order of CIT(A) is set aside and the matter is restored to the file of the Assessing Officer for de novo assessment. Needless to say that the Assessing Officer will give proper and adequate opportunity to the assessee to present its case. The assessee will also furnish the necessary details and submissions as and when called for by the Assessing Officer and will not take unnecessary adjournments.

With the above observations, the appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed for statistical purposes.