Sikha Rani De Vs ITO (ITAT Kolkata)
ITAT Kolkata held that denial of justice on hyper-technical grounds cannot be sustained where assessee’s appeal was dismissed solely due to inordinate delay without examining merits. In the present case, CPC made an adjustment u/s 143(1) by adding ₹14.43 lakh based on Form 26AS, though assessee neither received such income nor claimed corresponding TDS. Assessee contended that due to wrong PAN linkage, receipts belonging to a company were wrongly reflected in her Form 26AS, while she had only rental income.
Tribunal noted that assessee had been diligently pursuing rectification proceedings & time spent therein constituted a valid cause for delay. Additional evidence such as bank statements, PAN status confirmation & Form 26AS went to the root of the matter & deserved consideration. ITAT observed that CIT(A) ought to have condoned the delay & adjudicated the issue on merits instead of dismissing the appeal mechanically. Accordingly, order of CIT(A) was set aside & matter restored to CIT(A) for fresh adjudication on merits by passing a speaking order after granting due opportunity to assessee & AO. Appeal was partly allowed for statistical purposes.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT KOLKATA
This appeal filed by the assessee is against the order of the Addl/JCIT(A)-7, Delhi [hereinafter referred to as Ld. ‘Addl/JCIT(A)’] passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) for AY 2017-18 dated 08.07.2025.
