Ashok Kumar Agarwal Vs ACIT (Allahabad High Court)
The appeal under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was filed against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Agra Bench, which had allowed two revenue appeals ex parte for AY 2015-16—one concerning the assessment and the other relating to penalty. The appellant challenged the Tribunal’s order on two grounds: first, whether the Tribunal was justified in rejecting the appellant’s second adjournment request for the hearing on 19.05.2025, thereby passing an ex parte order allegedly in violation of natural justice; and second, whether the Tribunal erred in upholding the valuation adopted by the District Valuation Officer (DVO) by treating the property as agricultural land in 1981 without addressing or reversing the findings earlier recorded by the CIT(A), who had treated the land as non-agricultural in that year.
It was submitted that the revenue’s appeals were filed in 2025 and were allowed ex parte on the second listing date despite the adjournment application filed by the assessee for the date of hearing. Although the Tribunal acknowledged the adjournment request, it neither passed a specific order on it nor provided any reasons for rejecting it. The High Court had, during the proceedings, granted an opportunity to counsel for the revenue to obtain instructions regarding the Tribunal’s reasons for rejection; however, no facts were reported to demonstrate that any reason had been provided by the Tribunal for denying adjournment.
