The Kerala High Court, recently ruled that no limitation is prescribed under the Income Tax Act, 1961 for filing application for condonation of delay.
The petitioner, KC Antony approached the Court being aggrieved by the fact that an application filed by the petitioner under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for condonation of delay in filing returns and claiming refund for the Assessment Year 2010-11 was rejected by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax. The petitioner seeks a mandamus commanding the respondents to process the return of income filed by the petitioner for the Assessment Year 2010-2011 and grant to the petitioner the refund of Rupees one lakh.
The petitioner, who is an assessee under the Act, did not file his return of income for the Assessment Year 2010-11 within the time specified under Section 139 of the Income Tax Act. The due date for filing of return, as far as the petitioner is concerned, for the Assessment Year 2010-11 was 31.07.2010.
The petitioner filed his return of income only on 13.7.2012. The delay in filing the return was due to the fact that the petitioner was suffering from certain ailments and was hospitalized in connection with treatment for a period about four months. The Commissioner of Income Tax required the petitioner to file his application for condonation of delay under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act.
However, the record indicated that the petitioner had already filed an application for condonation of delay.The application of the petitioner was rejected as it was found that the application filed by the petitioner is not within a period of six years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
The Counsel for the petitioner, Anish Jose Antony argued that it is open to the Court to exercise jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and to condone the delay, in the facts and circumstances of the case.
Christopher Abraham, the Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that the order does not suffer from any illegality, irrationality or procedural impropriety warranting interference in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. A Single Bench consisting of Justice Gopinath P observed that “The delay to be condoned was not to be considered with reference to the date on which the application under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act was filed, but with reference to the date on which the ‘application for refund’. Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act does not impose any limitation for the purposes of filing an application for condonation of delay.”
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