The Kolkata Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal(ITAT) remanded the case to the Assessing Officer (AO) for re-examination due to the assessee’s pregnancy-related delay in submitting important documents.
Alka Jain,appellant-assessee, challenged the order dated 25th August 2024 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals)[CIT(A)] under Section 250 of the Act, for the assessment year(AY) 2017-18.
The assessee’s counsel explained at the outset that the appeal was delayed by 571 days due to improper compliance by the previous consultant and the time taken to find a new consultant. This led to an unavoidable delay in filing the appeal.
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The counsel requested the tribunal to condone the delay, stressing that it was caused by genuine and reasonable circumstances beyond the assessee’s control, with no mala fide intention. The counsel further urged that the delay be condoned in the interest of justice, allowing the appeal to be heard on its merits.
After considering the submissions, the tribunal found the delay to be due to reasonable causes and not a result of any deliberate attempt to delay the filing. In the interest of justice, the tribunal condoned the delay and allowed the appeal to proceed on its merits.
The counsel for the assessee stated that due to her pregnancy at the time of the assessment, the assessee was unable to provide important documents to the AO or the CIT(A). The counsel then presented these documents before the Tribunal under Rule 29 of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1963, seeking that the case be remanded to the AO for reconsideration with the new evidence.
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The Departmental Representative(DR) opposed the request, arguing that the documents should have been submitted earlier during the assessment or before the CIT(A), and that the request to file additional evidence at this stage should be denied.
The two member bench comprising Sonjoy Sarma(Judicial Member) and Sanjay Awasthi(Accountant Member) after hearing the submissions and reviewing the case, observed that the assessee had submitted new documents not previously available to the AO or CIT(A).
Under Rule 29 of the ITAT Rules, additional evidence can be considered if there is a valid reason for not presenting it earlier. In this case, the assessee’s pregnancy and associated challenges were accepted as reasonable grounds for the delay.
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The tribunal remanded the matter to the AO to reconsider the issue with the new documents and to provide the assessee an opportunity to present her case.
Ultimately,the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.
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