MAHAVEER BHASKARRAO KADAM,BARSHI vs. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CIRCLE-2, SOLAPUR, SOLAPUR

This appeal by the assessee is directed against order dated 10.11.2023 passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) – National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi [in short ‘the Ld. CIT(A)’] for assessment year 2016-17, raising following grounds:

1. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the Id. CIT(A) erred in passing an exparte order and the appellant prays for an opportunity to represent the matter before the CIT(4) 2. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the Id. CIT(A) erred in passing an exparte order without considering the submission and evidences filed in the course of physical hearing before the CIT(A)

may kindly be allowed to be altered, amended, modified, deleted ete in the interest of natural justice.

2. At the outset, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the impugned order passed is ex-parte qua the assessee, without considering submissions of the assessee, which were filed before migration of the appeal for faceless proceedings. The Ld. counsel accordingly prayed for restoring the appeal back to the file of Ld. CIT(A) for deciding afresh.

3. We have heard rival submission of the parties and perused the relevant material on record. We find that the Ld. CIT(A) has passed the order ex-parte without any finding on merit of the grounds raised by the assessee. Under the provisions of section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (in short ‘the Act’), the Ld. CIT(A) is required to pass order on merit even in absence of representation by the assessee. The Ld. counsel appeared before us has given an undertaking that if matter is restored back, the notices issued by the Ld. CIT(A) shall be complied by the assessee. Since, the Ld. CIT(A) has not given any finding on the merit of the issue and not considered submission of the assessee, therefore, we feel it appropriate to restore the matter back to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) for deciding afresh after taking into consideration submissions of the assessee. We order accordingly. The grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes.