Lete Rajendra Kumar Jaiswal through legal heir Smt. Uma Devi, Lucknow V. The ITO Range-3(1), Lucknow

ITA 162/LKW/2022

AI Insights

The case involves Smt. Uma Devi, the legal heir of the late Rajendra Kumar Jaiswal, who appealed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) for the assessment year 2017-18. The primary contention was the addition of Rs.66,93,839 under section 69A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which was initially assessed ex-parte by the Assessing Officer. The appellate order was also passed ex-parte, leading to the current appeal. The Tribunal found that the assessee was not given a reasonable opportunity to present her case, as the adjournment request was overlooked and the notices provided were insufficiently timed.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 113236 (ITAT-LUCKNOW)
• Duration Of Justice: 8 month(s) 25 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 30-05-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: PartlyAllowed
• Bench Allotted: B
• Next Hearing Date: 23-05-2023
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Appeal Filed On: 04-09-2022
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: HARISH GIDWANI
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard; Principle of natural justice; Set aside
• Section: 144

Judgement Text

I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 Assessment year:2017-18 1 IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL LUCKNOW BENCH ‘B’, LUCKNOW BEFORE SHRI SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI ANADEE NATH MISSHRA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Smt. Uma Devi, Legal heir of (Late) Rajendra Kumar Jaiswal, 538/244, Khadra, Sitapur Road, Deen Dayal Nagar, Lucknow. PAN:AFQPJ2622G Vs. Income Tax Officer, Range-3(1), Lucknow. (Appellant) (Respondent) O R D E R PER ANADEE NATH MISSHRA:A.M. (A) Present appeal before us, vide I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 has been filed by the assessee for assessment year 2017-18 against impugned appellate order dated 07/07/2022 vide DIN & Order No.ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2022- 23/1043768496(1) of learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [learned “CIT(A)” for short]. The grounds of appeal are as under: “1. The Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in passing the order, which is unlawful, unjustified and against the principles of natural justice. 2. The Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in passing the order without giving adequate opportunity of being heard. Appellant by Ms. Sweta Mittal, C.A. Respondent by Shri Harish Gidwani, Sr. D.R. Date of hearing 24/05/2023 Date of pronouncement 31/05/2023 I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 Assessment year:2017-18 2 3. The Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in passing the appellate order in name of deceased appellant despite of Smt. Uma Deva was registered as legal heir on 29.12.2020, making the appellate order 'null & void'. 4. The Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in upholding the addition of Rs.66,93,839/- u/s 69A of Income-tax Act made by the Ld. Assessing Officer. 5. The Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in passing the order which is contrary to the facts and law.” (B) In this case assessment order dated 30/09/2019 was passed wherein the addition of Rs.66,93,839/- was made and the assessee’s total income was assessed at Rs.66,93,839/-. The aforesaid assessment order was an ex-parte order passed u/s 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (“IT Act” for short). (B.1) Aggrieved, the assessee filed appeal in the office of learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [learned “CIT(A)” for short]. Vide impugned appellate order dated 07/07/2022 vide DIN No.ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2022-23/1043768496(1), the learned CIT(A) dismissed the assessee’s appeal. The aforesaid impugned appellate order of learned CIT(A) was also an ex-parte order qua the appellant assessee. The learned CIT(A) passed the order ex-parte qua the appellant assessee on the ground that the appellant assessee neither filed submissions nor requested for adjournment of hearing. The present appeal before us has been filed by the assessee against the aforesaid impugned appellate order dated 07/07/2022. (C) At the time of hearing before us, learned Counsel for the assessee contended that the assessee had submitted online application for adjournment of hearing, which however, was not taken into consideration I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 Assessment year:2017-18 3 by the learned CIT(A). She filed printout of adjournment request made online wherein adjournment was sought for, for the following reasons: “It is submitted that the appellant passed away in year 2020. The accountant of the deceased appellant has left. The legal heir is gathering the information and documents for submission before your honours and since she is not well versed with the complete details, it is taking more time than usual also. It is submitted that the legal heir was unaware of the notices sent earlier as tax consultant appointed by her deceased husband had his contact details and the legal heir was unaware of such proceeds or even about them. It is requested to please consider the hardship and adjourn the case for hearing on15/07/2022 and oblige.” (C.1) The learned Counsel for the assessee further submitted that the Assessing Officer had also not provided reasonable opportunity to the assessee in the course of assessment proceedings. She made a prayer to set aside the impugned appellate order dated 07/07/2022 of the learned CIT(A) and to restore the issue regarding the addition of Rs.66,93,839/- to the file of the Assessing Officer with the direction to pass fresh assessment order in accordance with law after providing reasonable opportunity to the assessee. (C.2) Learned Sr. Departmental Representative for the Revenue expressed no objection to the aforesaid submissions and prayer made by learned Counsel for the assessee. (C.2.1) We have heard both sides. We have perused materials on record. We find that the appellant assessee had filed online request for adjournment of hearing during appellate proceedings in the office of learned CIT(A), which however, did not receive the attention of the learned CIT(A) and, erroneously, the learned CIT(A) concluded that no request was made from the assessee’s side for adjournment of hearing. We also find that during the assessment proceedings the Assessing Officer gave final opportunity to the assessee vide notices dated 23/09/2019 and 25/09/2019, fixing dates of compliance as 24/09/2019 and 26/09/2019 respectively. We are of the view that the time I.T.A. No.162/Lkw/2022 Assessment year:2017-18 4 gap between dates of notices and due dates of compliance was too short and did not constitute reasonable opportunity. On an earlier occasion also, the Assessing Officer had issued notice dated 16/09/2019. Once again, in our view, time gap between date of notice and due date of compliance was too short and did not constitute reasonable opportunity. We are also cognizant of the fact that the assessee, a widow, is legal heir of her deceased husband and may have faced legitimate difficulty in organizing and compiling materials to ensure the compliance. In view of the foregoing, and as representatives of both sides are in agreement on this, in the specific facts and circumstances of the present appeal before us, we set aside the impugned appellate order dated 07/07/2022 of learned CIT(A) and we restore the issue in dispute regarding addition of Rs.66,93,839/-, to the file of the Assessing Officer with the direction to pass de novo order in accordance with law after providing reasonable opportunity to the assessee. All the grounds of the appeal are treated as disposed of according to the above direction. (E) In the result, the appeal is partly allowed for statistical purposes. (Order pronounced in the open court on 31/05/2023) Sd/. Sd/. (SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA) (ANADEE NATH MISSHRA) Judicial Member Accountant Member Dated:31/05/2023 *Singh Copy of the order forwarded to : 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent. 3. Concerned CIT 4. D.R., I.T.A.T., 5. CIT(A) Assistant Registrar