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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, HYDERABAD BENCHES “B” , HYDERABAD
Before: SHRI K. NARASIMHA CHARY & SHRI MADHUSUDAN SAWDIA, ACCOUNANT MEMBER
O R D E R PER MADHUSUDAN SAWDIA, A.M.
This appeal is filed by Ms. Unnam Madhuri (“the assessee”), feeling aggrieved by the order passed by the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi (“Ld. CIT(A)”), dated 06.06.2024 for the A.Y. 2022-23.
The grounds raised by the assessee read as under :
“ 1. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the order of the Id. CIT(A) is erroneous and unsustainable in law apart from being passed in violation of principles of natural justice. The Id. CIT(A) failed to appreciate that proper notices were not served on the appellant as required under section 282 of the Act r.w. rule 127 of the Rules, and therefore Appellant could not put forth his case.
2. Without prejudice to the above, the Appellant is aged 61 and is a house wife is not fully acquainted with the online proceedings and emails, and therefore could not respond to notices allegedly sent.
3. The Id. CIT(A) erred in sustaining the addition made by the AO of Rs.3,99,67,883 by disallowing the claim of cost of improvement.
4. The Id. CIT(A) erred in sustaining the addition made by the AO of Rs.21,37,200 by estimating the same at 25% of purchase amount claimed.”
Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual filed her return of income on 30.09.2022 declaring total income of Rs.1,49,33,530/-. The case of the assessee was selected for completed Scrutiny under CASS on the issue “to verify the issue of low long term capital gain and high improvement cost.” The assessment was completed by the Learned Assessing Officer (“Ld. AO”) u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) on 20.02.2024 making addition of Rs.4,21,05,083/-.
Feeling aggrieved by the order passed by the Ld. AO, assessee filed appeal before the Ld. CIT(A). The assessee did not make any compliances to the notices issued by Ld. CIT(A). Hence, the Ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee.
Feeling aggrieved with the order of Ld. CIT(A), the assessee is now in appeal before us. The Ld.AR submitted that the assessee is a house wife and she was in good faith that her Tax Consultant will look after the appeal matter. All the notices were served on the e-mail of the assessee. As she was not used to online technology, she could not see the notices and inform the Tax Consultant about the receipt of said notices. Therefore, the appeal could not be prosecuted before the Ld. CIT(A). By consolidating all the grounds, he further submitted that given an opportunity, the assessee is now ready to produce all the relevant details and conduct the proceedings diligently and get the matter disposed of on merits.
Per contra, Ld. DR placed heavy reliance on the orders of the authorities below, and submitted that sufficient opportunity has already been given by the authorities, but the assessee failed to avail the same. He opposed the grant of further opportunity to the assessee.
We have heard the rival contentions and also gone through the record in the light of the submissions made on either side. It could be seen from the orders of the Ld. CIT(A) that in spite of many opportunities given, the assessee failed to substantiate her case by providing necessary documentary evidence, which resulted in passing the orders without consideration thereof. It is a fact that the assessee does not stand to gain by not producing such documents. Be that as it may, now the assessee is ready to produce all such documentary evidence in support of her contentions and get the matter disposed of on merits. The highest that would happen by allowing an opportunity to the assessee is that a cause would be decided on merits. With this view of the matter, we are of the view that fresh opportunity should be given to the assessee and, accordingly, we set aside the impugned order and restore the issue to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) for passing a fresh order on merits after affording the opportunity of hearing to the assessee. Grounds of appeal are answered accordingly.
In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.
Order pronounced in the Open Court on 11th September, 2024.