RUDRAMKHI VINTRADE LTD.,KOLKATA V. A.C.I.T./D.C.I.T., CIRCLE - 11(1), , KOLKATA

ITA 2226/KOL/2024

AI Insights

Rudramkhi Vintrade Ltd. appealed against the orders of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi, for the Assessment Year 2014-15. The primary contention was the lack of adequate opportunity for the assessee to present its case during both the assessment and appellate proceedings. The Assessing Officer (AO) had made an addition of \\u20b91,78,00,000 as unexplained cash credit under section 68 of the Income Tax Act, without a reasonable opportunity for the assessee to be heard, citing the Covid pandemic as a reason for the ex-parte order. Similarly, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [CIT(A)] passed an order without a proper hearing, as the hearing was rescheduled and the order was issued before the new date. Both the assessee's representatives and the Departmental Representative acknowledged these procedural lapses.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 25406 (ITAT-KOLKATA)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 13-02-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Assessment Year: 2014-2015
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: PRABHAKAR PRAKASH RANJAN
• Assessee Lawyers: DEEP AGARWAL; SUBHANKAR
• Keywords: Unexplained cash credit; Principle of natural justice
• Section: 147; 68

Judgement Text

" IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “C” BENCH, KOLKATA BEFORE SHRI RAJESH KUMAR, AM AND SHRI SONJOY SARMA, JM ITA No.2226/KOL/2024 (Assessment Year:2014-15) Rudramkhi Vintrade Ltd. C/o. Agarwal Vishwanath & Associates, 133/1/1A, S.N. Banerjee Road, Pushkal Bhawan, 3 rd Floor, Kolkata-700013 Vs. ACIT, Circle 11(1) Aaykar Bhavan, P-7, Chowringhee Square, Kolkata-700069, West Bengal (Appellant) (Respondent) PAN No. AAFCR9464F Assessee by : Shri Deep Agarwal & Subhankar Ghosh, ARs Revenue by : Shri Prabhakar Prakash Ranjan, DR Date of hearing: 21.01.2025 Date of pronouncement : 13.02.2025 O R D E R Per Rajesh Kumar, AM: This is an appeal preferred by the assessee against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the “Ld. CIT(A)”] dated 09.09.2024 for the AY 2014-15. 02. The issue raised in the first ground of appeal is against the order of ld. CIT (A) as well as ld. AO not providing the assessee adequate opportunity to present its case. 03. At the outset, the ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted before the bench that the ld. AO as well as the ld. CIT (A) have passed the respective orders without affording reasonable opportunity of hearing Page | 2 ITA No.2226/KOL/2024 Rudramkhi Vintrade Ltd; A.Y. 2014-15 to the assessee. The ld. AR submitted that so far as the assessment proceedings are concerned, the assessment order was passed by the ld. AO u/s 147 read with section 144B of the Act by making an addition of ₹1,78,00,000/- as unexplained cash credit u/s 68 of the Act by without allowing any reasonable opportunity to assessee. The ld. AR submitted during the assessment proceedings that the Covid pandemic was there and therefore, case could not be represented resulting into passing an ex-parte order by the ld. Assessing Officer. Similarly, in the appellate proceedings, the case was fixed for hearing by the ld. CIT (A) on 28.08.2024 on which the adjournment was sought by the assessee which was duly granted by the ld. CIT (A) rescheduling the hearing to 06.09.2024. Thereafter, the ld. CIT (A) even before the date of scheduled hearing issued another notice on 02.09.2024, rescheduling the hearing further for 10.09.2024. The ld. AR submitted that when the assessee was uploading the submission on 10.09.2024, the assessee found that the ld. CIT (A) has already passed the order on 09.09.2024, meaning thereby that the appellate order was passed one day before the scheduled date of hearing. The ld. AR therefore prayed that the principle of natural justice has been given go by by the appellate authority and therefore, the order passed by the authorities below are bad in law. 04. The ld. DR on the other hands fairly agreed to the facts as narrated by the ld. AR and prayed that the issue may be restored either before the ld. CIT (A) or before the ld. AO so that the assessee could be heard and decided accordingly. 05. After hearing the rival contentions and perusing the materials available on record, we find that the assessment as well as the appellate proceedings were finalized ex-parte without hearing the Page | 3 ITA No.2226/KOL/2024 Rudramkhi Vintrade Ltd; A.Y. 2014-15 assessee. We note that during the assessment proceedings, the Covid pandemic was there and therefore, the assessee could not represent its case before the ld. CIT (A). The ld. CIT (A) passed the order on 09.09.2024, whereas the date of hearing given vide notice dated 02.09.2024 was 10.09.2024 which was one day before the scheduled date. In our opinion, the appeal needs to be restored to the file of the ld. AO so that the assessee could be heard and appeal could be decided accordingly. Consequently, we restore the issue to the file of the ld. AO and direct the ld. AO to decide the same after affording reasonable opportunity of hearing to the assessee. 06. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 13.02.2025. Sd/- Sd/- (SONJOY SARMA) (RAJESH KUMAR) (JUDICIAL MEMBER) (ACCOUNTANT MEMBER) Kolkata, Dated: 13.02.2025 Sudip Sarkar, Sr.PS Copy of the Order forwarded to : 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent 3. CIT 4. DR, ITAT, 5. Guard file. BY ORDER, True Copy// Sr. Private Secretary/ Asst. Registrar Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata "