BLOCK EDUCATION OFFICERS , GHATTIYA V. TDS CPC, GHAZIABAD

ITA 423/DEL/2024

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 101 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 6393 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 4 month(s) 19 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 20-06-2024
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: A
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Appeal Filed On: 01-02-2024
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: NEHA CHAUDHARY
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard; Reasonable cause; TDS; Set aside
• Section: 234E

Judgement Text

IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH, ‘A’: NEW DELHI BEFORE MS. MADHUMITA ROY, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI BRAJESH KUMAR SINGH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER ITA Nos.423 to 426/Del/2024 [Assessment Years: 2017-18 And 2018-19] Block Education Officers, Ghattiya, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh-456550 Vs TDS CPC, Aayakar Bhawan, Sector-3, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh-201010 PAN-BPLBO1600E Assessee Revenue Assessee by Sh. Soumya Bumb, CA Revenue by Ms. Neha Chaudhary, CIT-DR Date of Hearing 19.06.2024 Date of Pronouncement 21.06.2024 ORDER PER BENCH, This bunch of four appeals filed by the same assessee are against the respective orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), all dated 30.03.2021, New Delhi, pertaining to Assessment Years 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. 2. Since, the issues are common and connected, hence, the appeals were heard together and are being consolidated and disposed by this common order. In all the appeals, the assessee has taken identical grounds, which reads as under:- “1. Hon’ble CIT has passed ex-party order without giving reasonable opportunity of being heard. 2. Ld. Assessing Officer has levied penalty u/s 234E for delay in filing of TDS return which is not justifiable and liable to set aside.” 2 ITA Nos.423 to 426/Del/2024 3. At the time of hearing, the ld. AR submitted before us that the impugned order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) is admittedly as ex-parte one. In this regard, the Ld. AR submitted that the notices were not received by the assessee and filed a submission, which is as under:- 3 ITA Nos.423 to 426/Del/2024 4. Under these circumstances, he humbly prayed for further opportunity of being heard by the authorities below for adjudication of the matter in its proper perspective. Such prayer made by the ld. AR has not been objected by the Ld. DR. 5. Having heard both the parties and having regard to the facts and the circumstances of the case, we find that there was a reasonable cause for the non-appearance of the assessee before the ld. CIT(A), since the notices of hearing were not received by them. Therefore, in order to subserve the interest of justice and to provide an opportunity to the assessee to effectively represent its case, the order of learned CIT(A) is set aside for all the appeals and the matter is restored to the file of the ld. CIT(A) for adjudication of the same afresh. The Ld. CIT(A) will also grant a reasonable opportunity of being heard before deciding the appeals of the assessee. The grounds of all the appeals are allowed for statistical purposes. 6. In the result, all the appeals of the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 21 st June, 2024. Sd/- Sd/- [MADHUMITA ROY] [BRAJESH KUMAR SINGH] JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Dated 21.06.2024. ff^ ff^ff^ ff^? ?? ? Copy forwarded to: 1. Assessee 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4 ITA Nos.423 to 426/Del/2024 4. CIT(A) 5. DR Asst. Registrar, ITAT, New Delhi,