The New Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) remanded the matter concerning unexplained cash credits back to the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). This decision was taken because the CIT(A) issued an ex-parte decision without considering the adjournment request filed by the assessee via email.
Kamal Kumar Batra (assessee), a proprietor of Hiltop Refrigeration, filed his income tax return of Rs. 2,09,68,630 as total income. This income tax filing was selected for scrutiny. The assessing officer completed the assessment by adding Rs. 32,00,500 as an unexplained cash deposit in the bank declaring a total of Rs..2,41,69,130.
The assessee appealed against the assessment order before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). The matter was dismissed by CIT(A) due to non-prosecution and confirming the addition of the assessee.
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Aggrieved by the CIT(A) decision, the assessee appealed before the ITAT, New Delhi where the assessee’s counsel argued that the CIT(A) ignored the adjournment request filed through email on March 27 at 5.20 PM. The counsel submitted a copy of the email as evidence. The counsel prayed to set aside the impugned order and to restore the matter.
On the other hand, the revenue’s representative Anupama Singla argued that CIT(A) sent notices to the assessee’s email and correctly dismissed the appeal due to non-compliance by the appellant.
The two-member bench comprising Kul Bharat (Judicial Member) and Avdhesh Kumar Mishra (Accountant Member) heard both side’s arguments. The tribunal observed that the CIT(A) had not decided the matter on merits. Therefore, the tribunal decided to give the assessee a reasonable opportunity to present the matter before the CIT(A).
The tribunal remanded the matter back to CIT(A) for de-novo consideration. The tribunal directed the assessee to ensure compliance during the proceedings before the CIT(A). Thus, the assessee’s appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
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