In a recent ruling, the Madras High Court set aside the order rejecting to condone the delay of 30 days in filing an appeal before the income tax appellate tribunal as the assessee was abroad.
Acon Builders & Promoters, the petitioner filed an appeal against the aforesaid order of the second respondent on 29.03.2023 beyond the period of 32 days after the expiry of the condonable period of limitation under section 85 of the Finance Act, 1994.
The first respondent has rejected the appeal filed by the petitioner on account of limitation by referring to the decision of the Supreme Court in Assistant Commissioner (CT) LTU, Kakinada and others Vs. Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Health Care Limited, 2020.
The grievance of the petitioner is that the petitioner was out of the country for the period between 24.11.2022 and 26.02.2023. In other words, the specific case of the petitioner is that before the Order-in-Original passed by the second respondent, the petitioner had left the Country and went to Canada and returned only on 26.02.2023 which is the last date for filing the appeal with an application to condone the delay of 30 days in filing the appeal before the first respondent.
However, at the same time, it has to be considered that the petitioner was not in a position to file an appeal before the date as is evident from the documents filed by the petitioner indicating that the petitioner was out of the country between 24.11.2022 to 26.02.2023.
Considering the above, the Court comprising Justice C Saravanan set aside the impugned order and remitted the case back to the first respondent to dispose of the appeal on merits and by law without reference to the limitation.
The Court disposed of the appeal subject to the petitioner pre-depositing the amount as contemplated under Section 129E of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
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