REKHA RANI SUR,WEST BENGAL V. .ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER CIRCLE 23(1)HOOGHLY, WEST BENGAL

ITA 1982/KOL/2024

AI Insights

The case involves Rekha Rani Sur, the appellant, who filed her income tax return for the assessment year 2017-18 declaring a total income of Rs.30,75,080. The Assessing Officer made significant additions to her income, citing unaccounted cash deposits during the demonetization period and disallowed expenses claimed. The CIT(A) initially dismissed her appeal due to non-prosecution and failure to substantiate claims, without adjudicating on the merits. Aggrieved by this decision, Rekha Rani Sur approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which found the dismissal on procedural grounds without merit adjudication to be unjustified and remanded the case back for a thorough examination on merits.

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 469640 (ITAT-KOLKATA)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 20-12-2024
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Partly Allowed
• Bench Allotted: SMC
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Partly Allowed
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Section: 142(1); 143(2); 250

Judgement Text

"आयकर अपीलȣय अͬधकरण, कोलकाता पीठ, कोलकाता IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “SMC” BENCH KOLKATA Before Shri Sonjoy Sarma, Judicial Member and Shri Rakesh Mishra, Accountant Member I.T.A. No.1982/Kol/2024 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Rekha Rani Sur…….… ……….. ……..……………………....Appellant Swami Avayananda Lane, Bhadreswar, Hooghly – 712124. [PAN: AKAPS2635P] vs. ACIT, Circle-23(1), Hooghly. ….…….…............................…..…..... Respondent Appearances by: Shri Arka Ghosh, AR, appeared on behalf of the appellant. Shri S. B. Chakraborthy, Addl. CIT, Sr. DR and Somnath Das Biswas, Sr. DR, appeared on behalf of the Respondent. Date of concluding the hearing : December 18, 2024 Date of pronouncing the order : December 20, 2024 आदेश / ORDER Per Sonjoy Sarma, Judicial Member: The present appeal has been preferred by the assessee against the order dated 18.07.2024 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 filed her return of income on 25.10.2017 for the relevant assessment year by declaring total income of Rs.30,75,080/. The case of the assessee was selected for scrutiny and notices u/s 143(2) & 142(1) of the Act were issued. After examining the facts, the Assessing Officer made the additions of Rs.4999440/- in respect of cash deposits made during the demonetization period and Rs.5900720/- in respect of disallowance of expenses claimed by the assessee. I.T.A. No.1982/Kol/2024 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Rekha Rani Sur 2 3. Dissatisfied with the above order, the assessee filed an appeal before the ld. CIT(A). However, due to non-prosecution and failure to substantiate the claim by the assessee, the ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal without adjudicating the merits of the case. 4. Aggrieved, the assessee filed the appeal before this Tribunal. The ld. AR contended that the impugned order of the ld. CIT(A) is devoid of merit which is contrary to the provisions of section 250(6) of the Act. He, therefore, prayed before the Bench that it is necessary to remand the issue back to the file of the ld. CIT(A) with a direction to decide the appeal on merit. 5. On the other hand, the ld. DR argued that sufficient opportunities have already been provided to the assessee and the assessee failed to respond properly. The order passed by the ld. CIT(A) was justified on account of failure of the assessee to comply with the notices. 6. We, after hearing the rival submission of the parties and perusing the materials available on record, find that the order of the ld. CIT(A) is an ex parte order against the assessee, therefore, it is clear that the assessee could not represent her case and the ld. CIT(A) had dismissed the appeal without deciding the appeal on merits only on the ground of non-cooperation on the part of the assessee. We find that dismissal of appeal solely on the procedural ground without examining the merits of the case which is essential u/s 250(6) of the Act, is not justified. We deem it fit to provide the assessee one more opportunity to substantiate here case to ensure just and fair assessment. We, therefore, remand back the issue to the file of the ld. CIT(A) with a direction to re-examine the case on merits including the nature of the cash deposits and disallowance of expenses after giving reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee to represent her case. We also direct the assessee I.T.A. No.1982/Kol/2024 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Rekha Rani Sur 3 to strictly comply with the notices issued by the ld. CIT(A) and furnish all necessary documents to substantiate her claim. 7. In terms of the above, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Kolkata, the 20th December, 2024. Sd/- Sd/- [Rakesh Mishra] [Sonjoy Sarma] लेखा सदèय/Accountant Member ÛयाǓयक सदèय/Judicial Member Dated: 20.12.2024. RS Copy of the order forwarded to: 1. Rekha Rani Sur 2. ACIT, Circle-23(1), Hooghly 3.CIT (A)- 4. CIT- , 5. CIT(DR), //True copy// By order Assistant Registrar, Kolkata Benches "