The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench ‘A’, considered the appeal filed by the assessee along with an application seeking condonation of delay of 378 days in filing the appeal against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) under Section 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2012-13.

The assessee submitted that the delay occurred due to lack of diligence on the part of the Chartered Accountant in handling tax and technical matters of the assessee, an autonomous body functioning under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. The Revenue opposed the condonation contending that no sufficient cause had been shown.

The Tribunal observed that the explanation furnished by the assessee did not indicate any mala fide intention and that the assessee had not derived any benefit by filing the appeal belatedly. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal held that sufficient cause existed and accordingly condoned the delay of 378 days.

On merits, it was noted that the CIT(A) had passed an ex-parte order holding that the assessee was not interested in pursuing the appeal and had not filed supporting documents. The Tribunal observed that the appeal had been disposed of without affording proper opportunity of hearing to the assessee.

In the interest of substantial justice and in accordance with the principles of natural justice, the Tribunal set aside the impugned ex-parte order and restored the matter to the file of the CIT(A) with a direction to decide the appeal afresh in accordance with law after granting a fair opportunity of being heard to the assessee.

Accordingly, the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.

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