ITAT Condones Delay and Restores Appeal for Fresh Adjudication Due to Lack of Natural Justice in NFAC Order [Read Order]

The Patna Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) condoned the delay in filing the appeal and restored the appeal for fresh adjudication, noting lack of natural justice in the order passed by the National Faceless Assessment Centre (NFAC).

In this case, the appeal has been filed by the assessee, Chandra Deep Kumar, against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi, for the AY 2017-18.

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During the proceedings before the ITAT, the assessee’s counsel submitted that there was a delay of 11 days in filing the appeal, as the assessee was not aware of the hearing notices/passing of the ex-parte order by the ITAT, as no appeal notice/appellate order was received by the assessee by post or in registered email.

The assessee’s counsel requested to condone the delay, as the delay was due to genuine and reasonable cause beyond the control of the assessee, and no mala fide intention was involved for the delay in filing the appeal.

The ITAT observed that the delay of 11 days was due to reasonable cause and condoned the delay and decided to hear the matter on its merits.

The assessee’s counsel contended that the order under Section 250 of the Income TaxAct, 1961, was passed without providing sufficient opportunity to the assessee, and thus the principles of natural justice were violated, due to which the order should be set aside.

The tribunal noted that the NFAC passed the impugned order without looking into the merits of the case.

The bench, in the larger interest of justice, restored the matter back to the CIT(A) Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] for adjudication and directed them to give the assessee sufficient opportunity to furnish details and necessary evidence.

The ITAT, comprising Sanjay Awasthi (Accountant Member) and Duvvuru RL Reddy (Vice President), allowed the appeal for statistical purposes.

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