Ex-Parte Income Tax Assessment Against Continuously Absent Assessee: ITAT Restores Case for Meritorious Adjudication [Read Order]

The appeal was filed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) (CIT(A) ), which had dismissed the assessee’s appeal for want of requisite information and non-appearance.

At the time of hearing, neither the assessee nor any authorised representative appeared before the ITAT, and no adjournment application was moved. The Bench pointed out that the assessee had not appeared before any of the authorities, and suggested that the matter be restored to the file of the CIT(A) for disposal on merits.

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The Tribunal, consisting of Rajesh Kumar (Accountant Member) and Pradip Kumar Choubey (Judicial Member), after hearing the representative of the Revenue Department observed that the assessee had failed to appear on the dates fixed for hearing by the Assessing Officer.

Similarly, before the CIT(A), there was no representation from the assessee, which led to the dismissal of the appeal in the absence of supporting documents.

However, the ITAT held that in accordance with the principles of natural justice, the assessee deserved one more opportunity of hearing.

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While the DR suggested restoring the matter to the CIT(A), the Tribunal held that since the case was decided ex parte by the AO and no representation was made at all, it would ONLY be fair and reasonable to restore the appeals to the file of the AssessingOfficer.

Accordingly, the ITAT set aside the orders and directed the AO to decide the case on merits after providing a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the assessee.

The appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.

The department was represented by Rinku Singh, and no one appeared on behalf of the assessee.

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