Ex-parte dismissal of appeal by the Ld. NFAC was held...

Ex-parte dismissal of appeal by the Ld. NFAC was held unjustified as the appellant was deprived of reasonable opportunity and time to produce relevant documents to substantiate claims made in the returns of income and grounds of appeal. The opportunity of being heard should be real, reasonable, and effective, not an empty formality, as per the doctrine of natural justice. Relying on judicial precedents, it was held that where a decision is based on a document, a copy should be provided to the affected party with reasonable time to negate it. The impugned orders were set aside, and the cases were remitted back to the Ld. NFAC with a direction to deal with them de-novo, granting the appellant three effective hearing opportunities to comply with notices and contest the cases on merits.