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2023 (4) TMI 1379 - AT - Income TaxRecovery of outstanding demand u/s. 234E - short payment on account of late filing fee - HELD THAT - Assessee before us that he has not filed any copy of order under section 200A either before the ld. CIT(A) or before the Hon ble ITAT. The ld.AR admitted that he has merely filed copy of the justification report downloaded from the Income Tax Systems. Thus in this case it is an admitted fact that assessee has filed an appeal before the ld. CIT(A) against a letter issued by AO regarding recovery. Section 246A of the Income Tax Act specifies the orders against which appeal can be filed before the CIT(A). Recovery Letter issued by the AO or the justification report does not form appealable orders mentioned u/s 246A. Therefore we agree with the CIT(A) that appeal of the assessee was not maintainable and it was an infructuous appeal. The order of the CIT(A) dismissing the appeal of the assessee as infructuous not maintainable is upheld. Since CIT(A) has dismissed the appeal of the assessee as not maintainable the CIT(A) s observations regarding merits of the case are outside the scope of the order. We do not intend to comment on the merits of the case. Ground No. 1 of the assessee is dismissed.
Issues:
Appeal against recovery letter without filing order under section 200A; Maintainability of appeal based on recovery letter and justification report; Dismissal of appeal as infructuous; Merits of the case not considered due to absence of order under section 200A. Analysis: The judgment involves six appeals by the Assessee against separate orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) of National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi. The main issue revolves around the Assessee filing an appeal against a recovery letter without submitting the order under section 200A. The Assessee's grounds of appeal questioned the consideration of the 'Justification Report' without the service of the order under section 200A and demand notice. The Tribunal noted that the recovery letter and justification report are not appealable orders under section 246A of the Income Tax Act. As the Assessee failed to provide the order under section 200A, the appeal was deemed infructuous and dismissed. In the analysis, it was highlighted that the Assessee's appeal was not maintainable as it was against a recovery letter issued by the Assessing Officer, which is not an appealable order under section 246A. The Tribunal upheld the Commissioner's decision to dismiss the appeal as infructuous due to the absence of the order under section 200A. The Tribunal clarified that without the basic document of the order under section 200A, they could not comment on the merits of the case. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed on this ground as well. Regarding the other grounds raised by the Assessee, the Tribunal dismissed them as not maintainable or needing no adjudication. The Tribunal emphasized that the merits of the case could not be discussed in the absence of the order under section 200A. As similar facts were involved in the other appeals by the Assessee, the decisions made in the lead case applied mutatis mutandis to those appeals as well. Consequently, all six appeals by the Assessee were dismissed for lack of maintainability and the absence of the necessary order under section 200A. In conclusion, the Tribunal dismissed all six appeals by the Assessee due to the failure to provide the order under section 200A and the appeals being based on recovery letters and justification reports, which are not appealable orders under the Income Tax Act. The judgments in each appeal were consistent in upholding the dismissal of the appeals for being infructuous and not maintainable.
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