SHAM BASHEER Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in WP(C). No.38347 of 2023 is the appellant herein aggrieved by the judgment dtd. 1/2/2024 of the learned Single Judge dismissing the Writ Petition.

(2.) The brief facts necessary for the disposal of the Writ Appeal are as follows: The Writ Petition was filed by the appellant, who is an assessee under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, challenging Ext.P2 series of orders whereby the appeal filed by the appellant against assessment orders for the assessment years 2011-2012 to 2014-2015 were dismissed by the Appellate Authority. The limited ground taken in the Writ Petition for impugning Ext.P2 series of orders was that the appellant was not afforded an opportunity of hearing and that no communication for hearing was sent to the appellant by the Appellate Authority before passing the orders impugned in the Writ Petition.

(3.) Through a statement filed on behalf of the respondents, it was pointed out that the appellant had given as many as five e-mail ids to the Department, and the latest e-mail id given by the appellant at the time of filing the appeal against the assessment order for the year 2017-2018 was the one to which the notices of hearing had been sent by the Department. It was contended, therefore, that the appellant could not be heard to say that there was no communication of the notices of hearing to it. The learned Single Judge found force in the stand taken by the respondents and held that inasmuch as the communication in respect of the hearing of the appeal had been sent to the e-mail id indicated in the appeal against the assessment order for 2017-2018, it had to be seen as sufficient for complying with the rules of natural justice as far as the appellant herein was concerned. The Writ Petition was, therefore, dismissed by the learned Single Judge.