##PAGE1##

IN THE INCOME-TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “A” BENCH,

MUMBAI

BEFORE SHRI SANDEEP GOSAIN, JUDICIAL MEMBER

&

SHRI PRABHASH SHANKAR, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER

ITA No.6689/MUM/2024

Aarya Sarwate, v/s. Income Tax Officer, TDS – 1,

704, AI Basant Kavy

बनाम

Thane, Qureshi Mansion,

Adhara Complex, Kolshet Gokhale Road, Thane –

Road, Dhokali, Mumbai – 400602, Maharashtra

400 067, Maharashtra

स्थायी लेखा सं./जीआइआर सं./PAN/GIR No: PNED15498A

Appellant/अपीला्वी .. Respondent/्ቚतिवादी

Assessee by : Shri Sanjiv Brahme,AR

Revenue by : Shri Surendra Mohan, (Sr. DR)

Date of Hearing 23.12.2025

Date of Pronouncement 05.02.2026

आदेश / O R D E R

PER PRABHASH SHANKAR [A.M.] :-

The present appeal is preferred by the assessee against the order

passed by the Learned Commissioner of Income-tax, Appeal,

ADDL/JCIT(A), Udaipur [hereinafter referred to as “CIT(A)”] pertaining

to order passed u/s. 201(1)/201(1A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961

[hereinafter referred to as “Act”] dated 14.11.2022.

2. The grounds of appeal are as under:

1. The notice u/s 201 being without DIN is bad in law in so far the notice of

demand not being accompanied with the order.

P age | 2

ITA No. 6689/Mum/2024

Aarya Sarwate

2. The CIT Appeals has erred in confirming the TDS default amount of Rs.

23,20,000/-u/s. 201(1) disregarding the factual position.

3. The CIT Appeals has erred in not providing opportunity of being heard to

the Assessee.

4. The CIT Appeals has erred in levying the interest u/s 201(1A) with no

fault of Assessee.

5. The CIT Appeals has erred in confirming the fees levied u/s 234E by the

Assessing Officer for non- filing of return in Form 26QB when in

rectifying the Return was filed in time.

3. Briefly stated facts of the case are that the AO noticed that the

assessee purchased a property for total consideration of Rs.1.60 cr. from

Mr. Balram Agarwal and Usha Agrawal who were NRIs vide agreement

dated 06/12/2019.Deductor assessee had made TDS @ 1% instead of

30% plus surcharge etc. and she was also not in possession of any lower

deduction certificate u/s 197 of the Act. Acccordingly, the ITO(TDS-

1),Thane held the assessee as defaulter u/s 201(1) and 201(1A) and also

charged interest u/s 234E of the Act.

4. The assessee filed an appeal against the said order before the

ld.CIT(A) contesting the action of the TDS authority who noted that the

appeal filed was delayed by nine months. According to the impugned

order, on perusal of Form-35, it was noticed that order passed u/s

201(1A) of the Act on 14/11/2022 while the appeal was filed on

06/09/2023, which was beyond the statutory time limit provided for

filing of the appeal. The appeal was required to be filed within 30 days

P age | 3

ITA No. 6689/Mum/2024

Aarya Sarwate

i.e. by 14/12/2022. However, it was belatedly filed on 06/09/2023.He

further observed that there was substantial delay in the filing of appeal

for which no sufficient reason was given by the assessee in terms of

section 249(3) of the Act. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed without

any discussion on merits or on any other aspect.

5. Before us, it is contended that the ld.CIT(A) did not allow any

opportunity to explain the delay and suo moto dismissed the appeal,

thus violating the principles of natural justice. We find that the

ld.CIT(A) has dismissed the appeal in limine on the issue of delay only.

It appears from the record that the assessee was also not accorded

opportunity of hearing in this regard before dismissing the appeal.

Therefore, substantive adjudication of the issues could not be done by

him without opportunity of hearing to the assessee. In the grounds of

appeal, we find that the assessee has raised various grounds of appeal

challenging the impugned addition.

6. In the light of above observations and in the substantial

interest of justice, we set aside the appellate order and restore the entire

matter back to the ld.CIT(A) for allowing the assessee to explain the

reasons of delay in filing the appeal and on satisfaction thereof, he

would pass the appellate order de novo.

P age | 4

ITA No. 6