AI Structured Summary
Not yet generated for this judgment
Judgment
ORDER
PER S.RIFAUR RAHMAN,AM:
The assessee has filed appeal against the order of the Learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [“Ld. CIT(A)”, for short] dated 20.11.2025 for the Assessment Year 2020-21.
At the time of hearing, ld. AR for the assessee submitted that the ld. CIT (A) dismissed the appeal in limine only on the ground of delay in filing without duly appreciating that the assessee had shown reasonable and sufficient cause for the delay. He further submitted that the ld. CIT (A) had not adjudicated the issues on its merits. He submitted that ld. CIT (A) ought to have dealt with the grounds of appeal substantively even if the delay was not condoned or at least provided a detailed finding on the sufficiency of the cause of delay. He submitted that there are reasons for assessee for not appearing before the first appellate authority. Accordingly, he prayed that this issue may be remitted back to ld. CIT(A, after condoning the delay before the ld. CIT (A), with the prayer to give an opportunity of being heard to the assessee.
On the other hand, ld. DR for the Revenue objected to the submissions of the ld. counsel for the assessee and relied on the orders of the authorities below.
Considered the rival submissions and material placed on record. We observed that there is a delay of 85 days in filing the appeal before the ld. CIT (A). We observed that ld. CIT (A) did not condone the delay in filing the appeal and dismissed the appeal on this account alone and not decided the issues on merits. In the interest of justice, we condone the delay in filing the appeal before the ld. CIT (A) and restore the issues to the file of ld. CIT (A). We further direct ld. CIT (A) to give an opportunity of being heard to the assessee and decide the issues on merit as per law. We also direct assessee to make proper submissions and appear before the ld. CIT (A) on the date of hearing and cooperate with the tax authorities. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.