National Faceless Appeal Centre refused to Condone Delay without Detail Order: ITAT directs Fresh Adjudication [Read Order]

The Ahmedabad bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) comprising Shri Waseem Ahmed, (Accountant Member) and Shri T.R. Senthil Kumar (Judicial Member) has observed that the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) has refused to condone delay without a detailed order and therefore, directed the department to re-adjudicate the appeal.

The assessee, M/s Koshambh Charitable Trust has approached the Tribunal challenging the order of the NFAC. Shri Sanjay Shah, the counsel for the assessee pleaded that there is no delay on the part of the assessee in filing the appeal, since order dated 21.02.2018 passed u/s. 143(1) was not served to the assessee.

The division bench, after persuing the arguments and documents, observed that “As it can be seen from the Income Tax portal relating to the Assessment Year 2016-17, the date of service of u/s. 143(1) is said to be Nil and also mode of service also Nil. Thus, having not been served with the 143(1) order, only when certified copy was obtained from the department on 08.01.2020 and thereafter the assessee filed the appeal on 05.02.2020. Thus, there is no delay on the part of the assessee in filing such appeal. However, NFAC without appreciating the above facts has simply dismissed on the ground no “sufficient cause” was made on behalf of the assessee.”

Directing fresh adjudication, the bench held that “As it can be seen from page no. 32 of the paper book which is the screenshot of the Income Tax portal wherein for the Assessment Year 2016-17, the assessment is completed under 143(1)(a) with the DIN No. 2017201637086922336T on which demand raised as 21.02.2018. We also notice that the next two columns namely “date of service” and “mode of service” as Nil and no dates or details mentioned in those columns. The ld. D.R. appearing for the department could not give any information namely the date of service of 143(1)(a) order, as well as mode of such service to the assessee. In absence of the same, it cannot be considered the so called demand rised on 21.02.2018 was properly served on the assessee, so that the assessee has to take appellate remedy against such an order. Though, this plea was raised by the assessee before the NFAC, however, we find the same was not considered and NFAC passed a detailed order stating that “sufficient cause” was not shown by the assessee for the delay in filing such an appeal. This clearly shows that the ld. NFAC has not considered the factual situation and passed an order on the point of limitation only, without going into the merits of the case. Therefore we hold that there is no delay in filing the above appeal by the assessee.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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