SHAHAJI SHESHRAO BHESAR,AT GOPALPUR vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX APPEALS, FACELESS

Brief facts of the case are that appellant is an individual, who is in the business of running retail shop. The case of the assessee was reopened u/sec. 147 of the Act by the Assessing Officer (AO). The reasons for reopening the case are that on verification of records available with the Department, it was seen that the assessee had deposited cash amounting to Rs. 34,69,300/- in his savings bank account. However, assessee had not filed return of income for the relevant assessment year and also not responded to the notice issued u/sec. 148, therefore, the AO made the addition of Rs. 14,67,900/-

Being aggrieved by the order of the AO, the assessee filed an appeal before the NFAC. As the assessee had not complied with the hearing notices, the NFAC had, exparte, dismissed the appeal of the assessee.

Aggrieved by the order of the NFAC, the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal. It is settled position of law that the appellate authority, even while passing ex-parte order should dispose of the appeal on merits based on the material on record. Since, in the present case, the NFAC had merely passed the ex-parte order without going into the merits of the addition, therefore, the impugned order is set aside and remanded the matter back to the file of NFAC for de novo consideration after affording reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee.

In the result, appeal of the assessee is partly allowed for statistical purposes.