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2019 (8) TMI 304 - HC - Income TaxPower of tribunal to remand - exemption u/s 11 - AO held the receipts of admission fees as the revenue receipts instead of capital - ex-parte order of CIT(A) - HELD THAT:- If an order is passed by the CIT (A) on merits despite the fact that the assessee failed to appear before the CIT (A) at the time of the final hearing of the appeal, the order passed by the CIT(A) cannot be termed as ex-parte. An order having been passed by the CIT(A) after service of notices on the assessee, there is no question of failure of natural justice. It cannot be said that the assessee was not given an opportunity of hearing. The order of the CIT(A) is more than clear. On more than one occasion, the assessee remained absent before the CIT (A), and in such circumstances, the CIT (A) had no option but to look into the records and decide the appeal on its own merit. CIT(A) took into consideration three relevant aspects. First, it took into consideration the fact that the assessee had collected fees from the students at the time of their admission and the amount was credited to the balance-sheet treating it as corpus donation, whereas the said amount was not reflected in the income and expenditure account. Secondly, it took notice of the fact that the activities were commercial in nature, and thirdly, and more importantly, it took into consideration the fact that the registration granted u/s 12AA came to be cancelled vide order passed by the DIT (E), Ahmedabad dated 16th March, 2011. With such evidence on record, the Appellate Tribunal could have decided the appeal on merits after hearing the assessee. There was no good reason for the Appellate Tribunal to remit the matter to the CIT (A) so as to give an opportunity of hearing to the assessee. As noticed in many matters that the Appellate Tribunal has been remitting the matters to the CIT (A) for no good reason, more particularly, when the Appellate Tribunal is able to decide the matter on its own merits. There is one another valid reason for us to say that ordinarily the matter should not be remitted by the Appellate Tribunal to the CIT(A) if the Appellate Tribunal is in a position to decide the appeal on its own merits having regard to the evidence on record. Such remand orders lead to unnecessary delays and cause prejudice to the revenue. - Decided in favour of the revenue
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