IN INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL KOLKATA BENCH (SMC), KOLKATA [Before Shri P.M. Jagtap, Vice President (KZ)] I.T.A. No. 555/Kol/2019 Assessment Year: 2012-13 Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd. Appellant C/o. Subash Agarwal & Associates, Advocates Siddha Gibson, 1, Gibson Lane, Suite 213, 2nd Floor, Kolkata 700069. [PAN: AAACN9363Q] Vs DCIT, Circle 2, Jalpaiguri Respondent Central Revenue Building, Race Course Road, Nayabasti, Jalpaiguri 735 101. Appearances by: Shri Brijesh Kumar Singh, Advocate appearing on behalf of Assessee. Shri Jayant Khanra, JCIT, Sr. DR appearing on behalf of Revenue. Date of concluding hearing : September 17, 2019 Date of pronouncing order : September 17, 2019 ORDER This appeal filed by assessee is directed against order of Ld. CIT(A) Jalpaiguri dated 14.12.2018 passed ex-parte dismissing appeal of assessee for non-prosecution. 2. assessee in present case is company. In assessment completed u/s 143(3) vide order dated 28.11.2014, total income of assessee was determined by AO at Rs. 6,11,180/-. Subsequently, AO noticed mistake committed by him in said order in not making disallowance u/s 40A(3) of Act on account of payment of expenditure made by assessee in cash amounting to Rs. 3,50,000/-. In order to rectify said mistake, notice u/s 154 was issued by AO and since he did not find merit in submission made by assessee in response to said notice, 2 I.T.A. No. 555/Kol/2019 Assessment Year: 2012-13 Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd. rectification order u/s 154 was passed by him on 12.05.2016 making addition of Rs. 3,50,000/- to total income of assessee on account of disallowance u/s 40A(3) of Act. 3. Against order passed by AO u/s 154, appeal was preferred by assessee before Ld. CIT(A) and since there was no compliance on part of assessee to notices issued by him, Ld. CIT(A) dismissed appeal of assessee for non- prosecution vide his appellate order dated 14.12.2018 passed ex- parte. Aggrieved by order of Ld. CIT(A), assessee has preferred this appeal before Tribunal. 4. I have heard arguments of both sides and also perused relevant material available on record. In support of preliminary issue raised in this appeal challenging impugned order passed by Ld. CIT(A) ex-parte, assessee has filed affidavit explaining non-compliance to notices issued by Ld. CIT(A) as under: i. That after receiving notice of hearing I approached to Shri Sujit Basu, Advocate on 11.09.2018 said Advocate had given various requisitions and said that he will only appear after receiving all documents. As such, no one could appear on 12.09.2018. ii. That after arranging all requisite documents I approached Shri Sujit Basu Advocate on 18.09.2018 thereafter he accepted my case. iii. That on or around 26.09.2018 mother of said A/R was seriously ill thereafter she was admitted to hospital and after long fight with her illness she departed on 02.10.2018. Therefore appearance could not be made by said advocate on 04.10.2018. iv. That said A/R was thereafter busy in death rituals. So he could not make appearance on subsequent date as well. 3 I.T.A. No. 555/Kol/2019 Assessment Year: 2012-13 Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd. v. That notice of hearing was received on 31.11.2018 fixing date of hearing on 14.12.2018. On same day when Shri Sujit Basu, Advocate reached in office of CIT(A) at 2 p.m., peon of CIT(A) informed that order was already passed. vi. That I give undertaking that I shall make due compliance in abovementioned case if case is sent back to lower authorities and opportunity of hearing is afforded. Keeping in view explanation offered by assessee as above, I am satisfied that there was sufficient cause for non-appearance of assessee when its appeal was called for hearing before Ld. CIT(A). Even learned DR has not raised any objection in this regard. I, therefore, set aside impugned order passed by Ld. CIT(A) ex-parte and remit matter back to him for disposing of appeal of assessee afresh on merit in accordance with law after giving proper and sufficient opportunity of being heard to assessee. As undertaken by learned counsel for assessee, assessee shall make due compliance before Ld. CIT(A) and shall extend all possible cooperation in order to enable Ld. CIT(A) to dispose of appeal expeditiously. 5. In result, appeal of assessee is treated as allowed for statistical purpose. Order Pronounced in Open Court on 17th September, 2019. Sd/- (P.M. JAGTAP) VICE PRESIDENT Dated: 17/09/2019 Biswajit, Sr. PS 4 I.T.A. No. 555/Kol/2019 Assessment Year: 2012-13 Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd. Copy of order forwarded to: 1. Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd., C/o. Subash Agarwal & Associates, Advocates Siddha Gibson, 1, Gibson Lane, Suite 213, 2nd Floor, Kolkata 700 069. 2. DCIT, Circle-2, Jalpaiguri. 3. CIT(A) 4. CIT 5. DR True Copy, By order, Assistant Registrar / H.O.O. ITAT, Kolkata Northern Animated Animal Fees (P) Ltd. v. DCIT, Circle-2, Jalpaiguri