ITAT Delhi Grants One More Opportunity to Assessee, Subject to Cost Payment

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, has granted relief to an assessee by restoring the matter to the lower authority despite his non-compliance with the notices.

The assessee, Jaiveer Nagar, filed his income tax return (ITR), reporting an income of Rs 3,63,250. His case was reopened by issuing a notice under section 148 based on the information received in the investigation report, which alleged that the assessee’s account was credited with Rs 66,58,713, out of which Rs 15 lakhs were deposited in cash.

Accordingly, the AO made an addition of Rs 1,59,61,134 as undisclosed income under section 69A of the Income Tax Act. The assessee filed an appeal before the CIT(A). However, since the assessee remained non-compliant with the notices issued to him and did not even request an adjournment, the CIT(A) dismissed his appeal. Therefore, the assessee approached the ITAT.

The assessee submitted that he could not present his case earlier. He argued that the AO did not give him a proper opportunity to be heard and requested the Tribunal to remand the matter for fresh consideration.

Considering the fact that the assessee did not get enough opportunity to present his case, the Tribunal restored the matter to the CIT(A) for fresh adjudication, subject to a cost payment of Rs 5,000 to the Legal Aid Authority of the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court.