MANISH KUMAR,SIWAN V. .ASSESSMENT UNIT INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT, DELHI

ITA 262/PAT/2024

AI Insights

The case involves Manish Kumar, an individual engaged in a business as a Customer Service Point (CSP) of SBI Maharajganj Branch, who appealed against the orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre (CIT(A)) and the Assessing Officer. The primary issue arose from the Assessing Officer's decision to treat Rs.1,96,17,279 as unexplained income under section 69A of the Income Tax Act, due to the assessee's failure to respond to notices. The CIT(A) upheld this decision, leading to the appeal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal found that the assessee had not been given a fair opportunity to present his case and thus remanded the case back to the Assessing Officer for a fresh examination.

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 25756 (ITAT-PATNA)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 23-12-2024
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Partly Allowed
• Bench Allotted: DB
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Partly Allowed
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Principle of natural justice
• Section: 147; 148; 142(1); 250; 69A

Judgement Text

" IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “PATNA BENCH, PATNA VIRTUAL HEARING AT KOLKATA Before Shri Sonjoy Sarma, Judicial Member and Shri Sanjay Awasthi, Accountant Member I.T.A. No.262/Pat/2024 Assessment Year: 2018-19 Manish Kumar………………….……………………………………….…..……Appellant Takkipur, Maharajganj, Siwan, Bihar-841244. [PAN: DJRPK9679G] vs. Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department ....….........……........……...…..…..Respondent Appearances by: Shri Anjan Biswas, FCA, appeared on behalf of the appellant. Shri Rinku Singh, CIT-DR, appeared on behalf of the Respondent. Date of concluding the hearing : December 18, 2024 Date of pronouncing the order : December 23, 2024 ORDER Per Sonjoy Sarma, Judicial Member: The present appeal has been preferred by the assessee against the order dated 02.01.2024 of the National Faceless Appeal Centre [hereinafter referred to as ‘CIT(A)’] passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’). 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual and engaged in a business of Customer Service Point (CSP) of SBI Maharajganj Branch and filed his return of income for the assessment year 2018-19. An information was received by the Assessing Officer indicating a potential tax liability during the year. He also noticed that a sum of Rs.1,96,17,279/- was received as commission income during the assessment year. The Assessing Officer thereafter reopened the case of the assessee u/s 147 of the Act by issuing notice u/s 148 of the Act and the assessee failed to response to the notice. Subsequently, the I.T.A. No.262/Pat/2023 Assessment Year: 2018-19 Manish Kumar 2 Assessing Officer issued notice u/s 142(1) of the Act requesting the assessee to submit explanations regarding the transaction made during the year. Despite issuance of multiple notices, the assessee did not able to respond properly. The Assessing Officer thereafter treated Rs.1,96,17,279/- as unexplained income u/s 69A of the Act and added the same to the income of the assessee. 3. Aggrieved by the above order, the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(A) against the assessment order. Despite serving repeated notices by the ld. CIT(A), the assessee did not able to appear on different occasions which led to the ld. CIT(A) to pass an ex parte order by dismissing the appeal of the assessee and upholding the order of the Assessing Officer. 4. Dissatisfied with the above order, the assessee preferred the appeal before this Tribunal raising multiple ground. However, the primary contention of the assessee is that both the orders of the ld. CIT(A) as well as the Assessing Officer are ex parte orders and the non- compliance of the assessee was due to a belief that the income of the assessee was below the taxable income, hence no return was filed. The ld. AR further stated that the failure to respond notice was due to circumstances beyond his control which was neither intentional nor deliberate. The ld. AR also stated that the assessee has sufficient documents such as bank statement and other relevant documents to substantiate the claim of cash deposits and withdrawals. The ld. AR, therefore, prayed before us that another opportunity may be given to the assessee so as to enable the assessee to furnish relevant documents to substantiate his claim before the authorities below. 5. On the other hand, the ld. DR opposed and stated that the assessee is a habitual defaulter which was clearly reflected from the orders of the authorities below. I.T.A. No.262/Pat/2023 Assessment Year: 2018-19 Manish Kumar 3 6. We, after considering the rival submissions and reviewing the documents available on record, find that the inability of the assessee to furnish relevant documents during the assessment proceedings and also appellate proceedings hindered proper adjudication and decided the issue against the assessee by the lower authorities. We also note that the assessee submitted documents before the Tribunal which were not placed on record earlier before the lower authorities to prove the case of cash withdrawal and the same is required to be verified. We, therefore, in the interest of natural justice and fair play, deem it necessary to provide the assessee with an opportunity to submit the required or relevant documents to substantiate his claim before the Assessing Officer. Accordingly, we remand the issue to the file of the Assessing Officer for fresh adjudication. The Assessing Officer is also directed to re-examine the submissions and documents of the assessee and pass a fresh order in accordance with law. 7. In terms of the above, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Kolkata, the 23rd December, 2024. Sd/- Sd/- [Sanjay Awasthi] [Sonjoy Sarma] Accountant Member Judicial Member Dated: 23.12.2024. RS Copy of the order forwarded to: 1. Manish Kumar 2. Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department 3. CIT(A)- 4. CIT- , 5. CIT(DR), I.T.A. No.262/Pat/2023 Assessment Year: 2018-19 Manish Kumar 4 //True copy// By order Assistant Registrar, Kolkata Benches "