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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, CHANDIGARH
Before: SHRI A.D.JAIN & SHRI KRINWANT SAHAY
PER A.D.JAIN, VICE PRESIDENT
This is assessee's appeal for assessment year 2011-12 against the order dated 28.12.2023 passed by the ld. CIT(Appeals) NFAC, Delhi. The following grounds have been taken :
“1. That the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in passing an ex-parte order without affording a proper opportunity of hearing which is against the Principles of Natural Justice and as such the order passed is arbitrary and unjustified.
ITA 199/CHD/2024 A.Y.2011-12 2 2. That the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law as well as on facts in passing an ex-parte order dismissing the appeal in limine without discussion on merits which is against the principles of Natural Justice and as such the order passed is arbitrary and unjustified.
3. That the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals) has erred in rejecting the appeal ex-parte only on the basis of alleged non-compliance on part of the assessee when in fact no email/notice/SMS was received by the assessee to check the portal and as such the order passed is arbitrary and unjustified.
4. Without prejudice to the above, the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals) has erred in upholding the addition of Rs.61,00,000/- on account of cash deposits in the bank account treating it to be alleged income from undisclosed sources which is arbitrary and unjustified.
5. That the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals) has further erred in upholding the addition of Rs.67,258/- on account of interest credited in the bank account which is arbitrary and unjustified.
There is a delay of 1 day in filing the appeal before this Tribunal. The assessee has filed an application for condonation of delay explaining the reasons for the delay occurred in filing the present application. The assessee has stated that he provided Form No. 36 duly signed alongwith Appeal Fee Challan to CA Aarti on 22.02.2024 for uploading the same on the ITAT Portal on 26.02.2024. But the form could not be uploaded on the ITAT Portal as the OTP was not received on email. Therefore, the appeal was filed before the ITAT on 27.02.2027. The assessee has also filed his affidavit in this regard.
From the contents of the application and the affidavit of the assessee, we are satisfied that the assessee was ITA 199/CHD/2024 A.Y.2011-12 3 prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time.
Therefore, the delay of 1 day in filing the present appeal is condoned.
At the outset, the ld. Counsel for the assessee has 2. invited our attention to the impugned order of the ld.CIT(A) to submit that the ld.CIT(A) has summarily rejected the appeal of the assessee without affording a proper opportunity of hearing and without any discussion on merits.
It is further submitted that the ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal of the assessee ex-parte only on the basis of alleged non-compliance on the part of the assessee, but infact, no email/notice or SMS was received by the assessee to check the Portal.
The ld. DR could not rebut the aforesaid factual position.
We have heard the rival contentions. The matter now stands covered by the decision of the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of ‘Munjal BSU Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ludhiana through its authorized signatory Shri Bharat Goyal Vs Commissioner of Income Tax (E), Chandigarh’, in CWP 21028-2023 (O&M), wherein, vide
ITA 199/CHD/2024 A.Y.2011-12 4 order dated 04.03.2024, their Lordships have held that the provisions of Section 282(1) of the Income Tax Act and Rule 127(1) of the Income Tax Rules, 1962, envisage that it is essential that before any action is taken, a communication of the notice must be in terms of these provisions; that these provisions do not make mention of communication to be “deemed” by placing the notice on the e-portal of the Department; that an pragmatic view has always to be adopted in these circumstances; that an individual or a company is not expected to keep the e-portal of the Department open all the times so as to have knowledge of what the Department is supposed to be doing with regard to the submissions of forms, etc.; and that the principles of natural justice are inherent in the Income Tax provisions and the same are required to be necessarily followed. The impugned order of the ld.CIT(A) is, therefore, not sustainable in the eyes of law. The same is hereby set aside with a direction to the ld.CIT(A) to decide the appeal of the assessee afresh after giving proper and adequate opportunity to the assessee to present its case. The ld. CIT (A) will serve notice of hearing through physical mode as well as through electronic mode upon the assessee.
ITA 199/CHD/2024 A.Y.2011-12 5
The appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced on 13.08.2024.