The Delhi bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has directed the Commissioner for de novo adjudication, by condoning the delay of 379 days in filing the appeal due to the default of Charted Accountant (CA) in complying with the income Tax notices.
The assessee, Dominic Savio Dasilva is a non-resident Indian residing in United States of America (USA), owns a property in Goa from where he earns rental income. In course of the assessment proceedings, the Assessing Officer (AO) noted that the assessee had deposited money into his bank account during the time of demonetization, he asked the assessee to describe the origin of the cash deposits.
The Assessing Officer did not agree with the assessee’s claims that the cash deposits were made from earlier withdrawals, thus, added the cash deposits to the assessee’s income in accordance with Section 69A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessee filed an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT (A)] against the ensuing the assessment order after a delay of 379 days.
The assessee stated that the notices were sent to his Chartered Accountant (CA) who initially complied with the notices but afterwards did not. As a result, the filing of appeal was delayed by 379 days.
The Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) disregarded the grounds and dismissed the NRI assessee’s appeal in limine without condoning the delay. Aggrieved by the Ex parte order assessee filed an appeal before the ITAT Bench.
The counsel on behalf of assessee made a submission for setting aside the Ex parte order passed against him by first appellate authority, that too, in limine without condoning the delay, with a direction to decide the appeal on merits.
The Departmental Representative maintained that, after giving the assessee an opportunity to be heard, the matter might be returned to the first appellate authority to be decided.
The ITAT bench comprising of Shri G.S. Pannu, President and Saktijit Dey, Judicial Member observed that the delay in filing the appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) due to the default of Charted Accountant (CA) in complying to the notice and considering the fact that the assessee is a non-resident of India, the explanation given by the assessee is certainly appears plausible.
The bench observed that the reasonable opportunity for the assessee to be heard before the appeal was dismissed was not made clear in the commissioner’s contested ruling. As a result, there was a flagrant violation of the Principles of Natural Justice.
Hence the Tribunal affirms the assessee’s right to a fair and reasonable opportunity to be heard while setting aside the CIT(A)’s order and directed for a new adjudication of the case.
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