The High Court of Judicature at Bombay recently allowed a Petition seeking a delay condonation of 2 days in filing Income Tax Returns on account of bonafide reasons, including a fire at the office of the concerned Chartered Accountant (CA).
The Writ Petition was filed against the Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi among others, by Neumec Builders Pvt. Ltd., a Mumbai-based Construction company, represented by Gunjan Kakkad instructed by Mint and Confreres.
The Counsel for the Petitioner submitted before the Bombay High Court that the extended deadline for filing of the Return of Income was 15th March, 2022 with the Petitioner filing their Returns on 17th March, 2022 with a delay of two days due to reasons beyond the control of the Petitioner and their entrusted CA.
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A condonation of the delayed filing of Form 10-IC was also sought for by the Petitioner citing technical difficulties on the Income Tax Portal; a grievance application encompassing all the difficulties had also been filed by the CA on 22nd March, 2022.
The bone of contention raised by Neumec concerned a fire that occurred at the office premises of their CA on 10th March, 2022, 14 days before the filing of the Petitioner’s Returns. It was averred that the fire led to disruption in supply of electricity at the CA’s office and thus prevented the CA from timely accessing their online database owing to multiple server errors.
Further arguments were raised against the Respondent, represented by Manoj Shirsat in light of Circular No.19 of 2023 (F No.173/32/2022-ITA-I) dated 23rd October, 2023 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes which instructs subordinate authorities to condone delay in filing Form 10-IC for the Assessment Year 2021- 2022, provided that Form 10-IC is filed before 31.01.2024 or within 3 months from the end of October 2023.
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The Bombay High Court Bench constituted by Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh P. Pooniwalla observed the contentions raised by the Petitioner in light of the Bombay High Court’s decision in Jyotsna M. Mehta v/s. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (2024) that, the two-delay may be condoned by the Court upon certainty that the cause is wholly bonafide and aligns with principles that are paramount and jurisprudentially accepted.
Considering all findings on record, the Bench proceeded to allow the Petition for condonation of Delay in filing the Return of Income and Form 10-IC for the Assessment Year 2021- 2022.
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