CHENNAI DISTRICT COOP UNION LTD.,CHENNAI V. ITO, NCW-10(1), CHENNAI

ITA 2389/CHNY/2025

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The case involves Chennai District Coop. Union Limited, a cooperative society, which did not file its income tax return for the assessment year 2018-19. The Income Tax Department, upon discovering that the assessee had made Time Deposits of Rs.12,50,000, reopened the case under sections 147 and 148 of the Income Tax Act. The Assessing Officer (AO) added Rs.12,50,000 to the assessee's income under section 69 of the Act, citing unexplained investments. The assessee's appeal to the CIT(A) was dismissed due to non-participation. The Tribunal noted the assessee's negligence in responding to notices but decided to remit the case back to the AO for a fresh assessment, emphasizing the need for procedural fairness and the opportunity for the assessee to present their case.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 786798 (ITAT-CHENNAI)
• Duration Of Justice: 2 month(s) 20 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 19-11-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: D
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Appeal Filed On: 29-08-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: KRISHNA MURTHY AT
• Assessee Lawyers: J. SARAVANAN
• Keywords: Set aside
• Section: 144

Judgement Text

"आयकर अपील य अ धकरण,‘डी’ यायपीठ,चे नई IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ‘D’ BENCH, CHENNAI \u0014ी मनु क ुमार ग\u0018र , या\u0019यक सद य एवं \u0014ी एस .आर .रघुनाथा, लेखा सद य क े सम# BEFORE SHRI MANU KUMAR GIRI, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI S.R. RAGHUNATHA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपीलसं./ITA No.2389/CHNY/2025 (\u0019नधा$रण वष$ / Assessment Year:2018-19) Chennai District Coop. Union Limited, No.170, EVR Periyar Road, Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010. vs. The Income Tax Officer, Non-Corp Ward-10(1), Chennai. [PAN: AACAC-4785-D] (अपीलाथ&/Appellant) ('(यथ&/Respondent) अपीलाथ& क) ओर से/Appellant by : Shri J. Saravanan, Advocate '(यथ& क) ओर से/Respondent by : Mr. Krishna Murthy AT, JCIT सुनवाई क) तार ख/Date of Hearing : 23.10.2025 घोषणा क) तार ख/Date of Pronouncement : 19.11.2025 आदेश / O R D E R PER S.R.RAGHUNATHA, AM: This appeal of the assessee is filed against the order of the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi, (in short “ld.CIT(A)”) for the assessment year (A.Y.) 2018-19, vide order dated 09.06.2025. Printed from counselvise.com :-2-: ITA 2389/Chny/2025 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a Cooperative society registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983, and functioning as the Federation of all other co-operative societies within the District of Chennai and had not filed its return of income for AY 2018-19. As per the information available with the department, the assessee had made Time Deposits of Rs.12,50,000/- for the assessment year 2018-19 and thus income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. The assessee had failed to declare these transactions, the notice u/s.148 was issued and the case has been re-opened u/s.147 of the Act. In response to this notice, the assessee filed its return of income on 30.04.2022 for the A.Y.2018-19, declaring total income of Rs.14,69,170/-. Subsequently, the AO issued statutory notices to the assessee and called for details. On perusal of the documents submitted by the assessee dated 14.02.2023, the AO was not convinced with the explanation, and completed the assessment u/s.147 r.w.s 144 of the Act dated 26.03.2023 by making an addition of Rs.12,50,000/- u/s.69 of the Act. 3. Aggrieved by the order of the AO, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld.CIT(A), NFAC on 03.07.2023. 4. At the outset, we observed that ld.CIT(A) has provided three opportunities for the assessee to appear for hearings as detailed in paragraph 2.3 of the ld.CIT(A) order to support the appeal of the assessee. However, the assessee chose to be silent and did not respond to any of the notices and hence, the Printed from counselvise.com :-3-: ITA 2389/Chny/2025 ld.CIT(A), NFAC dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee by confirming the order of the AO by passing an order dated 09.06.2025. 5. The ld.AR submitted that the assessee’s employee failed to check the income tax portal and its email and hence they were not aware of the notices issued by the ld.CIT(A) and hence they could not appear before the ld.CIT(A). In view of the above, the ld.AR prayed that the Hon’ble Tribunal may be pleased to set aside the order of CIT(A) and remit the issues to the file of Assessing Officer. Further, ld.AR assured the bench that the ld.AR will represent on behalf of the assessee before the AO to complete the assessment proceedings effectively. 6. Per contra, the ld.DR submitted that both the Assessing Officer and the ld.CIT(A) provided sufficient opportunity to appear before them. However, the assessee has been negligent in responding to the statutory notices and hence, prayed for confirming the order of the ld.CIT(A). 7. We have heard the rival parties and perused the material available on record and gone through the orders of the lower authorities. We note that the AO has passed an order by considering the information available with the department and the same has been dismissed by the ld.CIT(A) - NFAC due to non-participation of the assessee before the first appellate authority. Since, the assessee has failed to participate before the appellate authority, we levy the cost of Rs.5,000/- to be paid to State Legal Aid Authority, Hon’ble High Court of Madras and produce proof of payment of cost to the Registry within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order. Printed from counselvise.com :-4-: ITA 2389/Chny/2025 8. In view of the above and to meet the ends of justice we set aside the order of ld.CIT(A) and remit the matter back to the file of AO and direct the AO to denovo frame the assessment order in accordance with law, after providing reasonable opportunity to the assessee. Needless to say, the assessee to be diligent and file written submissions and relevant documents if advised so. 9. In the result, appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the court on 19th November, 2025 at Chennai. Sd/- Sd/- (मनु क ुमार ग\u0018र) (MANU KUMAR GIRI) या\u0019यक सद य/Judicial Member (एस. आर. रघुनाथा) (S.R.RAGHUNATHA) लेखा सद य/Accountant Member चे नई/Chennai, -दनांक/Dated, the 19th November, 2025 sp आदेश क\b त ल\u000eप अ\u0011े\u000eषत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथ&/Appellant 2. '(यथ&/Respondent 3.आयकर आयु.त/CIT– Chennai/Coimbatore/Madurai/Salem 4. /वभागीय '\u0019त\u0019न ध/DR 5. गाड$ फाईल/GF Printed from counselvise.com "