Tax appeal dismissed due to non-service of notice. Appellant directed to rectify issue or face dismissal.

The tax case appeal filed by the Revenue challenging an order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was dismissed due to non-service of notice to the respondent/assessee. The Division Bench directed the appellant to rectify the issue within a specified timeframe, failing which the appeal would be dismissed without further reference to the Court. The appellant was granted the liberty to restore the appeal by filing a restoration petition after obtaining the correct address of the respondent, with no costs incurred.

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Issues:
Admissibility of tax case appeal under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Analysis:
The judgment pertains to a tax case appeal filed by the Revenue under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, challenging an order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The substantial question of law in this case revolved around the nature of a payment made by the assessee amounting to Rs. 19.47 crores for obtaining information on the distribution of network for the assessment year 1998-99. The appellant/revenue was represented by Mr. T.R. Senthil Kumar and Mrs. K.G. Usha Rani. The respondent/assessee was not served with the notice, leading to a directive by the Division Bench to rectify this issue within a specified timeframe. Failure to comply with this directive would result in the automatic dismissal of the appeal without further reference to the Court. Despite subsequent listings of the case, the respondent was not served, ultimately leading to the dismissal of the appeal due to non-service of notice. However, the appellant/Revenue was granted the liberty to restore the appeal by filing a restoration petition after obtaining the correct address of the respondent. If such a petition is filed, the Registry was directed to number the restoration petition without requiring a condone delay petition. Consequently, the tax case appeal was dismissed with no costs incurred.

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