TMI Blog2006 (8) TMI 431X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o a new premises in the first week of June 2005 and it is possible that the Tribunal may have sent the hearing notices at the old address and therefore, the representative could not attend the hearing. As the non-appearance on behalf of the assessee was due to the above reason, it is prayed that the order of the Hon ble Tribunal may be recalled and the appeal heard on merits. 3. In addition to the grounds set out in the Miscellaneous Petition, the learned counsel for the assessee during the hearing took up a new legal argument altogether. It was pointed out by the learned counsel that the Tribunal dismissed the appeal of the assessee on default and not on merits. According to the learned counsel, the Tribunal does not have the power to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... allowed to the aggrieved party. 5. We have heard both the parties and perused the record carefully. We find that the notices were sent to the address provided by the party in Form No. 36. Thus we hold that there was no mistake in the order of the Tribunal insofar as sending the notices to the address given in Form No. 36. This view of ours is supported by the judgment of the Allahabad High Court in the case of Anupam Sushil Garg ( supra ). However, a reading of the decision of the Apex Court in the case of S. Chenniappa Mudaliar ( supra ) and that of the Bombay High Court in the case of Khushalchand B. Daga ( supra ) would show that the Tribunal has no power to dismiss an appeal of the assessees for default or allow the appeal of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... powers are also embedded with certain inherent obligations also, one of which being that whenever rules of natural justice demand undoing of earlier action, judicial authority/discretion has to be activated at a later point of time. The Delhi Bench of the Tribunal in that case has also considered the relevant provisions of ITAT Rules. Following the said decision of the Delhi Bench of the Tribunal, various Benches of the Tribunal all over the country, including the Hyderabad Benches of the Tribunal in similar matters, have been even today, exercising such inherent powers vested in them, dismissing the appeals for default without going into merits, if there is consistent default of non-appearance on behalf of the appellant-assessees/revenue, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... residing over the Tribunal or participating in the hearing but the Tribunal as an institution. If it is to be conceded that simply because of the change in the personnel of the officers who manned the Tribunal, it is open to the new officers to come to a conclusion totally contradictory to the conclusion which had been reached by the earlier officers manning the same Tribunal on the same set of facts, it will not only shake the confidence of the public in judicial procedure as such, but it will also totally destroy such confidence. The result of this will be conclusions based on arbitrariness and whims and fancies of the individuals presiding over the Courts or the Tribunals and not reached objectively on the basis of the facts placed befor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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