M R EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL TRUST,CHENNAI V. .ITO, EXEMPTIONS WARD-4, CHENNAI

ITA 2680/CHNY/2024

AI Insights

The case involves M R Educational and Social Trust, which appealed against the order of the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax, National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi. The appeal arose from an assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer under sections 143(3) read with section 144B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the Assessment Year 2018-19. The Assessing Officer had made an addition of Rs. 1,28,35,000 to the corpus donations received by the trust, as only 16 out of 27 donors responded to the verification notices. The CIT(A) dismissed the appeal ex-parte due to lack of supporting documents from the assessee. The Tribunal, considering the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the assessee's ability to respond, decided to provide another opportunity for the assessee to present its case.

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 107246 (ITAT-CHENNAI)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 20-12-2024
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Laws Referred To: Income-tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: ANITHA
• Assessee Lawyers: G.TARUN
• Keywords: Set aside; Principle of natural justice
• Section: 143(3)

Judgement Text

"आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, ‘सी’ \u0011ा यपीठ, चे\u0016ई। IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ‘C’ BENCH: CHENNAI \u0019ी जॉज\u001c जॉज\u001c क े, उपा \u001e\u001f एवं \u0019ी जगदीश, लेखा सद' क े सम\u001f BEFORE SHRI GEORGE GEORGE K, VICE PRESIDENT AND SHRI JAGADISH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ITA No.2680/Chny/2024 िनधा \u001cरण वष\u001c /Assessment Year: 2018-19 M R Educational and Social Trust, G4C, Meenakshi Flats, 25, Mannar Street, T. Nagar, Chennai – 600 017. Vs. The Income Tax Officer, Exemptions Ward-4, Chennai. [PAN: AAFTM 0498M] (अपीलाथ\u0007/Appellant) (\b\tयथ\u0007/Respondent) अपीला थG की ओर से/ Appellant by : Shri G. Tarun, Advocate IJथG की ओर से /Respondent by : Ms. Anitha, Addl. CIT सुनवा ई की ता रीख/Date of Hearing : 17.12.2024 घोषणा की ता रीख /Date of Pronouncement : 20.12.2024 आदेश / O R D E R PER JAGADISH, A.M : Aforesaid appeal filed by the assessee for Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 arises out of the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax, National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [hereinafter “CIT(A)”] dated 01.10.2024 in the matter of assessment ITA No.2680/Chny/2024 :- 2 -: framed by Ld. Assessing Officer [AO] u/s. 143(3) r.w.s 144B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter “the Act”) dated 19.04.2021. 2. The assessee has filed return of income on 27.07.2018 declaring total income at Nil. During the assessment proceeding, the A.O called for details of the voluntary contributions forming part of corpus amounting to Rs. 5,27,20,000/- and after making enquiry through verification unit noted that only 16 donors have furnished or uploaded their reply . The A.O therefore, made the addition on corpus donation of Rs. 1,28,35,000/- in respect of donors who have not been replied . Aggrieved, the assessee filed an appeal before Ld. CIT(A). The Ld. CIT(A) has dismissed the appeal ex-parte as the assessee has failed to append any submission or supporting documents in support of its contention. 3. The Ld. Authorized Representative (A.R) of the assessee before us has submitted that notices for enquiry were issued during Covid-19 period by the AO, due to which some of donors could not upload the confirmation. The Ld. AR further submitted that the Ld. CIT(A) has dismissed the appeal ex-parte and therefore, one more opportunity should be given to substantiate his case. ITA No.2680/Chny/2024 :- 3 -: 4. The Ld. Departmental Representative (DR), on the other hand, has relied on the orders of lower authorities. 5. We have heard the rival submissions, and perused the materials available on record. The A.O has made the addition in respect of corpus donation only on the ground that some of donors have not replied in response to notices issued by the verification unit. The Ld. AR has submitted that notices were issued during Covid-19 period and therefore, it could not be replied and one opportunity should be given to substantiate his case. The Ld. CIT(A) has also dismissed the appeal ex-parte. We are of the opinion that keeping in view the principles of natural justice, the assessee be provided with another opportunity of hearing to substantiate his case before the A.O. Accordingly, we set aside the orders passed by the lower authorities and restore the matter back to the file of the A.O for denovo adjudication after giving reasonable opportunity to the assessee. We also direct the assessee to appear before the A.O on the date of hearing without fail. In view of the above, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes only. ITA No.2680/Chny/2024 :- 4 -: 6. In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced on 20th December, 2024. Sd/- Sd/- (जॉज\u001c जॉज\u001c क े) (George George K) उपा \u001e\u001f / Vice President (जगदीश) (Jagadish) लेखा लेखा लेखा लेखा सद\u0011य सद\u0011य सद\u0011य सद\u0011य /Accountant Member चे\u0013नई/Chennai, \u0016दनांक/Dated: 20th December, 2024. EDN/- आदेश क\u0019 \bितिल\u001cप अ\u001dे\u001cषत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथ\u0007/Appellant 2. \b\tथ\u0007/Respondent 3. आयकर आयु\u000f/CIT, Chennai 4. िवभागीय \bितिनिध/DR 5. गाड\u0018 फाईल/GF "