Case Law Details
Guneet Kaur Chadha Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
Delhi ITAT Quashes Ex-parte NFAC Order for Breach of Natural Justice Where Portal Blockage & Medical Grounds Prevented Reply
Less Than 24 Hours to Reply & Portal Blocked: ITAT Calls It Gross Injustice- When Portal Shuts, Natural Justice Opens: Delhi ITAT Orders Fresh Assessment- Medical Emergency & Technical Lockout Ignored—NFAC Order Set Aside- Faceless Doesn’t Mean Heartless: Assessment Remanded for Fair Hearing
Delhi ITAT ‘C’ Bench in Mrs. Guneet Kaur Chadha Vs. ITO [ITA No. 3005/Del/2025, AY 2020-21, order pronounced on 12.11.2025] held that assessment as well as appellate order could not be sustained where Assessee was denied effective opportunity to respond due to unreasonable timelines and technical blockage on portal. AO proposed disallowance of deduction u/s 57(iii) of ₹55,00,216 by issuing draft show-cause notice granting less than 24 hours for response. Assessee sought adjournment on medical grounds with supporting certificate, which was ignored, and thereafter Assessee’s portal remained blocked for several months, disabling submission of replies. Even subsequent replies sent by email and grievance lodged on portal were not considered while framing assessment u/s 143(3). Tribunal observed that Assessee was prevented by sufficient cause from filing reply and that CIT(A)/NFAC failed to even comment on admission of additional evidence, resulting in clear violation of principles of natural justice. Holding that additional evidences went to root of matter, Tribunal restored entire issue to AO for de-novo adjudication with direction to consider all evidences and grant reasonable opportunity. Appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
1. The appeal in ITA No. 3005/Del/2025 for AY 2020-21, arises out of the order of the ld National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) [hereinafter referred to as ‘ld. NFAC’, in short] in Appeal No. ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2024- 25/10747833327(1) dated 20.03.2025 against the order of assessment passed u/s 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) dated 13.09.2022 by the Assessing Officer, ITO, Ward-12(2), Delhi (hereinafter referred to as ‘ld. AO’).
2. One of the most crucial issue raised by the assessee is challenging the violation of principles of natural justice by the Learned CIT(A) in not admitting the additional evidences. Since this goes to the root of the matter, we deem it fit to address the said issue first.
3. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. The assessee is an individual and had filed a return of income for Assessment Year 2020-21 on 27-12-2020 declaring total income of Rs. 23,52,980/-. The ld AO during the course of assessment proceedings issued a show-cause notice containing the draft assessment order dated 21- 03-2022 show-causing the assessee as to why the disallowance of deduction claimed under Section 57(iii) of the Act in the sum of Rs. 55,00,216/- be not made in the assessment. The due date set for compliance to the said show-cause notice was 22-03-2022. The assessee was given less than 24 hours to file her reply in this regard. The assessee filed an adjournment letter dated 5-04-2022 on medical grounds. The copy of medical certificate from a doctor evidencing the ill health of the assessee was also uploaded along with the adjournment letter. After nocommunication was received from the officer to the adjournment letter filed by the assessee. Thereafter, the portal of the assessee was blocked by the Learned AO between 6-04-2022 to 29-08-2022. Hence, assessee could not file her replies during this period. Further, the option of filing any reply was also closed by the Learned AO in the portal on 5-09-2022. Thereafter, another show-cause notice dated 29-08-2022 was issued by the Learned AO. The assessee was given time till 5-09-2022 to reply to the same. In reply, a letter dated 5-09-2022 was filed by the authorised representative of the assessee seeking a short adjournment as there was bereavement in the family being the death of mother of authorised representative. It was also submitted before the Learned AO that the reply to the show-cause notice would be filed on or before 11-09-2022. The assessee however, filed a detailed reply to the show-cause notice issued by the Learned AO and wanted to upload the reply on 11-09-2022 on the income tax portal, by which time the button for ‘submit response’ to the notice dated 29-08-2022 was deactivated by the Learned AO. Hence, the assessee could not file the requisite details before the Learned AO, which culminated in the framing of assessment order on 13-09-2022 determining the total income of the assessee at Rs. 78,55,096/-. In fact, the assessee also raised a grievance in this regard vide Grievance Acknowledgement No. 8232028 at 6.33 am on 11-09-2022 itself stating that she was not able to upload the reply sought for by the Learned AO. Later, the assessee also had sent a detailed reply to the official email of the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer, Ward 12(1), New Delhi on 11-09-2022 itself. This reply also was not taken into cognizance by the Learned AO while framing the assessment on 13-09-2022. Accordingly, in view of these facts, the assessee had no other option but to file the said reply along with all the supporting documents as additional evidences before the Learned CITA. The order of Learned CITA is even silent about admission of additional evidences filed by the assessee thereby resulting in violation of principles of natural justice. The Learned CIT(A) simply endorsed the views of the Learned AO and dismissed the appeal of the assessee.
4. From the facts narrated herein above, we hold that assessee was prevented from sufficient cause in not filing the reply before the Learned AO and the action of the Learned CIT(A) in not even commenting about the admission of additional evidences is not appreciated. Since the additional evidences filed by the assessee go to the root of the matter and would be relevant and crucial for adjudication of the issue in dispute, we deem it fit and appropriate, in the interest of justice and fair play, to restore this entire appeal to the file of Learned AO for de novo adjudication in accordance with law qua the issue in dispute before us. The Learned AO is hereby directed to consider all the additional evidences filed by the assessee before the Learned CITA. The assessee is also given liberty to furnish fresh evidences, if any, in support of her contentions. Needless to mention that the assessee be given reasonable opportunity of being heard. With these directions, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes by restoring to the file of Learned AO.
5. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the open court on 12/11/2025.
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