2015 (12) TMI 1690 - AT - Income Tax

Non-appearance on the last date of hearing - Held that - Reason given by the learned counsel for the applicant in the Miscellaneous Application for nonappearance on the last date of hearing is that inadvertently the applicant wrongly noted the date of hearing in this case as 15.7.2015 instead of 15.6.2015. By the time, it came to the notice of the applicant that the date was wrongly noted, the appeal was dismissed for non prosecution. In this regard, an affidavit of the managing trustee of the applicant trust was placed on record. Considering the explanation of the applicant, we are of the view that the applicant has been able to explain the sufficient cause for non appearance. Therefore, one more opportunity could be given to the applicant to argue the appeal on merits.

Summary

Issues:
Recall of order due to non-appearance and incorrect noting of hearing date.

Analysis:
The judgment pertains to a Miscellaneous Application filed for recalling the order of the Tribunal dated 15.6.2015, where the appeal of the assessee was dismissed for non-appearance. The applicant explained that the non-appearance was due to mistakenly noting the date of hearing as 15.7.2015 instead of the actual date, 15.6.2015. An affidavit from the managing trustee of the applicant trust supported this explanation. The Tribunal considered this explanation sufficient and decided to grant the applicant another opportunity to argue the appeal on its merits. Consequently, the Tribunal recalled its earlier order and restored the appeal of the applicant without issuing a separate notice for the final hearing. The decision was made to fix the appeal for final hearing on 2.2.2016. The Miscellaneous Application was allowed by the Tribunal, and the order was pronounced in the open court on 11th December 2015.