M/s. Chitradurga Urban Development Authority, Chitradurga V. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Exemptions, Circle-1, Mangalore

ITA 409/BANG/2023

AI Insights

The case involves M/s. Chitradurga Urban Development Authority appealing against the order of the NFAC, which was passed under section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the assessment year 2016-17. The primary contention of the appellant was the ex-parte decision made by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), which they argued was prejudicial to their interests and based on a misunderstanding of the new faceless appeal scheme. The appellant highlighted their lack of response to hearing notices due to unfamiliarity with the ITBA portal, which was a new system at the time. The respondent, Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax (Exemption), Circle-1, Mangalore, opposed the appeal, emphasizing the non-compliance of the appellant with the opportunities provided by NFAC. The Tribunal, considering the circumstances, decided to remit the case back to NFAC for a fresh hearing.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 129391 (ITAT-BANGALORE)
• Duration Of Justice: 1 month(s) 16 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 04-07-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: PartlyAllowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Next Hearing Date: 04-07-2023
• Assessment Year: 2016-2017
• Appeal Filed On: 18-05-2023
• Laws Referred To: Income-tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: SUASH K.R.
• Assessee Lawyers: SANDEEP CHALAPATHY
• Section: 142(1); 250

Judgement Text

ITA No.409/Bang/2023 M/s. Chitraduga Urban Development Authority, Chitradurga IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “C’’ BENCH: BANGALORE BEFORE SHRI CHANDRA POOJARI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER AND SMT. BEENA PILLAI, JUDICIAL MEMBER ITA No.409/Bang/2023 Assessment Year: 2016-17 M/s. Chitradurga Urban Development Authority No.01, Near AIR Kelagote Chitradurga 577 501 PAN NO : AAALC0135A Vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax (Exemption) Circle-1 Mangalore APPELLANT RESPONDENT Appellant by : Shri Sandeep Chalapathy, A.R. Respondent by : Shri Suash K.R., D.R. Date of Hearing : 05.07.2023 Date of Pronouncement : 05.07.2023 O R D E R PER CHANDRA POOJARI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER: This appeal is directed against order of NFAC passed u/s 250 of the Income-tax Act,1961 ['the Act' for short] for the assessment year 2016-17 dated 22.3.2023. The assessee has raised following grounds of appeal: 1. That the order of the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) in so far it is prejudicial-to the interests of the appellant is bad and erroneous in law and against the facts and circumstances of the case. 2. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in deciding the appeal ex-parte on the ground that the appellant did not respond to the hearing notices. 3. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in not appreciating the fact that the faceless appeal ITA No.409/Bang/2023 M/s. Chitraduga Urban Development Authority, Chitradurga Page 2 of 4 scheme was newly introduced and therefore, the appellant was not aware of the procedure that all the hearing notice§ will be issued only to the assessee's registered email ID and therefore, could not file all the responses. 4. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in not considering the fact that the appellant responded to the notice u/s 142(1) of the Act providing the requested details by the learned assessing officer and not grossly negligent without taking any action to the above said notice issued. 5. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) ought to have disposed off the appeal on merits. 6. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in denying the exemption u/s.11 of the Act even though the appellant is eligible for claiming the exemption. 7. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in law and facts in delaying the exemption u/s.11 of the Act by assuming that proviso to Sec.2(15) of the Act is applicable to the appellant. 8. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts in holding that the proviso to Sec.2(15) of the Act is applicable to the appellant. 9. That the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) erred in law and on facts by treating the activities carried out by the appellant are in the nature of trade and commerce and not of charitable nature. 2. At the time of hearing, the ld. A.R. made submission on ground No.2 that the NFAC has given notices of hearing to the assessee as follows: Date of notice Date of hearing fixed Remarks 01.01.2021 05.02.2021 No reply 21.10.2021 05.11.2021 No reply 07.04.2022 22.04.2022 No reply 18.10.2022 01.11.2022 No reply 13.12.2022 28.12.2022 No reply 08.02.2023 23.02.2023 No reply ITA No.409/Bang/2023 M/s. Chitraduga Urban Development Authority, Chitradurga Page 3 of 4 2.1 However, the assessee has not complied to the above notices on the reason that assessee’s Principal Officer was not well versed with the ITBA portal and the ld. A.R. prayed that an opportunity of hearing may be given to the assessee before NFAC to present assessee’s case afresh. 3. The ld. D.R. strongly opposed the argument of ld. A.R. and submitted that assessee has not made use of the opportunities given by NFAC. Hence, the issue may be decided by the Tribunal on merits only. 4. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. In this case, various notices were issued by the NFAC which were not complied by the assessee. It was explained by the ld. A.R. that it is due to their poor knowledge about ITBA portal. Hence, in our opinion, it is appropriate to vacate the order of NFAC and remit the entire issues to the file of NFAC for fresh consideration after giving an opportunity of being heard to the assessee. Since we have already remitted the issue to the file of NFAC, we refrain from commenting anything on the merit of the issues raised before us. 5. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is partly allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 5 th July, 2023 Sd/- (Beena Pillai) Judicial Member Sd/- (Chandra Poojari) Accountant Member Bangalore, Dated 5 th July, 2023. VG/SPS ITA No.409/Bang/2023 M/s. Chitraduga Urban Development Authority, Chitradurga Page 4 of 4 Copy to: 1. The Applicant 2. The Respondent 3. The CIT 4. The CIT(Judicial) 5. The DR, ITAT, Bangalore. 6. Guard file By order Asst. Registrar, ITAT, Bangalore.