Merely uploading information about date of hearing on I-T Portal is no effective service of notice u/s 282

While setting aside the CIT(E) order summarily rejecting the Assessee’s application for registration under Section 12AB without providing any opportunity for hearing, The Chandigarh Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal directs the CIT(E) to decide the appeal of the Assessee afresh after giving proper and adequate opportunity to the assessee to present its case.

A Division Judge bench of Justice Sanjay Garg and Accountant Member Vikram Singh Yadav observed that “merely uploading of information about the date of hearing on the Income Tax Portal is not an effective service of notice as per the provisions of Section 282 of the Income Tax Act.”

Advocate Rana Gurtej Singh appeared for the Petitioner/Assessee whereas Advocate Mahesh Thakurm appeared for the Respondent/Revenue. 

 The brief facts of the case were that during AY 2022-23, the Assessee filed an application for registration under Section 12AB before the CIT(E) which was denied ex-parte i.e., without providing an opportunity for a hearing. Before ITAT, the Assessee contended that no notice of hearing was served by CIT(E) either through physical mode or through e-mail, accordingly, no services of notice were ever affected. The Assessee further contended that notice of hearing although uploaded on the Income Tax Portal, however, no notice regarding the uploading of such notice was ever served. 

After considering the submission, the Bench noted that the proper notice was not served by the CIT.

The Bench stated that the impugned order of the CIT(E) is, therefore, not sustainable in the eyes of the law.

The Bench also stated that CIT(E) should have served notice of hearing through physical mode as well as through electronic mode upon the Assessee.

Accordingly, the Bench sets aside the CIT(E) order with direction to decide the appeal of the Assessee afresh after giving proper and adequate opportunity to the Assessee to present its case.

Cause Title: Sant Kabir Mahasabha Vs. The CIT [ITA No 84/CHD/2023 / 2023-Enterslice-35-ITAT-Chand]

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