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Judgment
PER S. RIFAUR RAHMAN, AM :
This appeal is filed by the assessee against the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi [“Ld. CIT(A)”, for short] dated 11.07.2025 for the Assessment Year 2015-16.
At the time of hearing, ld. AR for the assessee brought to our notice that the assessment order was passed on 16.03.2023 and according to Form No.35 filed by the assessee, the date of service of Order/Notice of Demand is 17.03.2023 and ld. AR submitted that the appeal ought to have been filed within 30 days from the date of assessment order i.e. on or before 16.04.2023, however the assessee filed the appeal on 31.08.2023 resulting in a delay of 137 days, which is beyond statutory permissible time limit of 30 days. Accordingly, the ld. CIT (A) decided the issue against the assessee by observing that no sufficient cause has been established for condoning the delay and dismissed the same. He submitted that there was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal in time before the ld. CIT (A). He further submitted that the Assessing Officer has passed the order ex-parte. Accordingly, he prayed that in the interest of justice, the appeal may be remitted back to the Assessing Officer 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 the ld. CIT (A) dismissed the appeal on the pretext that the same was filed beyond the prescribed period of limitation. We also observed that the Assessing Officer has passed the assessment order ex-parte. However, in the interest of justice, we are of the opinion that the assessee should be provided with an opportunity to present her case. Accordingly, we condone the delay in filing the appeal before the ld. CIT (A) and restore the matter to the file of Assessing Officer. We direct the Assessing Officer to give an opportunity of being heard to the assessee and decide the issue on merit as per law. We also direct assessee to make proper submissions and appear before the Assessing Officer 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.