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Judgment
PER BRAJESH KUMAR SINGH, AM,
This appeal by the assessee is directed against the order of National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) [hereinafter referred to as the ‘Ld. CIT(A)] order dated 09.06.2025 arising out of the Assessment Order dated 22.12.2017 passed under section 147 / 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘the Act’) by the ITO-1, Ward-(1)(4), Shamli, (hereinafter referred to as the ‘AO’) pertaining to Assessment Year (A.Y.) 2010-11.
There is a delay of 81 days in filing the present appeal before the Tribunal. In this regard, the assessee has filed the condonation application and the relevant extract of the same is reproduced as under:
“ 1. That I beg to prefer this application for condonation of delay in relation to appeal filed against the order of the Ld. CIT(A) passed on 09-06-2025 which is received on e-mail address [email protected]. There is a delay of 102 days in filing the appeal before Honorable Tribunal against the order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) passed on 09-06-2025.
2.That it is to state that I am a uneducated poor old lady I do not have any email ID and hence the email ID of my legal counsel was used for Income Tax filing purpose. The appeal was filed in Form-35 on 29/01/2018 and no hearing notice u/s. 250 was issued for a period of more than 3 years and then the COVID pandemic occurred. Afterwards, the said email ID of my legal counsel [email protected] was not operational as legal counsel died due to COVID pandemic. Subsequently, the appeal was migrated to the National Faceless Appeals Centre and I did not have any knowledge of such scheme and the notices for hearing and the subsequent ex-parte order were sent to the old e-mail address [email protected]. The delay in filing of the second appeal before the Honorable Tribunal was due to lack of knowledge of the fact of dismissal of appeal by the Ld. CIT(A) as the order was served on the old e-mail address [email protected] which was no longer operational.
3.That I received a call from Income tax department, Shamli for resumption of penalty proceedings after CIT(A) order passes against me in month of October 2025; after that I came to know that order was already passed on 9th of June 2025.
4.That therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case, I pray to this Honorable Income Tax Appellate Tribunal:
a)condone the delay of 102 days in filing the appeal and to extend the time for filing the same inclusive and upto the date of filing the appeal;
b)Also, that the case is a meritorious one and requires consideration to grant such other and further relief as deemed fit by Honourable Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.”
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, and in view of the reasons stated in the condonation application, which, in our considered opinion, constitute a reasonable cause for the delay, we are inclined to condone the delay of 81 days in filing the present appeal. Accordingly, the delay is condoned and the appeal is admitted for adjudication on merits.
Further, the Ld. AR submitted that the assessee could not appear before the Ld. CIT(A) due to the fact that the notices of hearing were not received and the appeal was decided ex-parte by the Ld. CIT(A). It was further submitted that the Ld. CIT(A) did not adjudicate the matter on merits and requested that the matter may be set aside to the file of the AO for fresh assessment.
On the other hand, the Ld. Sr. DR supported the order of the authorities below.
We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. In this case, the AO had added a sum of Rs. 16,89,000/- u/s 68 of the Act, on account of cash deposit in her bank account. On perusal of the grounds of appeal before us, it is observed that the cash deposits in the bank account of the assessee were on account of the sale of agricultural land by the assessee’s son and, therefore, the said amount was not taxable in her hands. Moreover, it is noted by the AO in the assessment order that Shri Shamshad, son of the assessee, attended the proceedings from time to time and submitted replies along with necessary annexures, which were placed on record. However, the AO has not discussed the said replies and annexures filed by the assessee. Therefore, in this case, the AO has not passed a speaking order, after dealing with the submissions of the assessee. The Ld. CIT(A) also dismissed the appeal of the assessee ex parte, and thus, no effective opportunity of being heard was provided to the assessee. Accordingly, in the interest of justice and to afford one more opportunity to the assessee, we set aside the orders of the Ld. CIT(A) as well as the AO and restore the matter to the file of the AO for de-novo assessment, after providing due opportunity to the assessee and in accordance with law.
The assessee is directed to appear during the assessment proceedings and the assessee is also at liberty to submit any details / evidences in support of her claim(s)/ appeal.
In the result, appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.