Hearing before Commissioner (Appeals) - Assessing Officer to be Heard

By Vijay Kumar

AS per Section 250(2) of the Income Tax Act;

The following shall have the right to be heard at the hearing of the appeal -

(a) the appellant, either in person or by an authorised representative;

(b) the Assessing Officer, either in person or by a representative.

In a case before the ITAT, the Assistant Commissioner submitted that he was not heard by the CIT(A), in spite of official request for the same.

The ITAT observed, "it is amply clear that the Assessing Officer should be provided an opportunity of being heard, which was not provided by the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) to the Assessing Officer. Therefore, the impugned order is contrary to the principles of natural justice as well as the provisions of section 250(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, thus, it is liable to be cancelled and we cancel the impugned order and also direct the learned first appellate authority to decide the issues in dispute in accordance with law, after giving the adequate opportunity to the Assessing Officer in terms of section 250(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961."

Even under the Indirect Taxes Laws, the Commissioner (A) is required to give an opportunity to the appellant (which would include the Adjudicating Authority) to be heard.

But in indirect taxes, we rarely find the Commissioners sending any officer to attend the hearing before the Commissioner (A). Because they know that any way the Commissioner (A) himself is representing the case of the Revenue. Somewhere down the line, they forgot that they are expected to be neutral.