The Ahmedabad Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ( ITAT ) set aside the Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals) [CIT(A)] order, agreeing that the three-day delay in filing the appeal during the COVID period should be excluded under the Supreme Court’s extended filing deadlines.
Bharatbhai Ratanshi Shah,appellant-assessee, challenged the order dated 4 September 2024, for Assessment Year 2018-19, passed by CIT(A) under Section 250 of the Income Tax Act.
The assessee raised 12 grounds, including challenges to various additions, but the main issue was the dismissal of the appeal for a three-day delay in filing. The CIT(A) refused to condone the delay, calling it unexplained. The assessee counsel argued this was unfair, as the Supreme Court had extended filing deadlines during the COVID-19 pandemic until 28.2.2022.
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The two member bench comprising Pawan Kumar ( Judicial Member ) and Annapurna Gupta ( Accountant Member ) observed, after hearing both sides, that the Supreme Court had extended the limitation period for filing appeals during the COVID-19 pandemic through its order dated 23/03/2020 in Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3/2020. This extension was further extended until 28th February 2022 by M.A. No. 21 of 2022 dated 10th January 2022.
The appellate tribunal held that this extended period must be excluded when calculating the limitation for filing appeals. It was acknowledged that the assessee filed the appeal on 5.10.2021, which fell within the extended period.
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The tribunal set aside the CIT(A)’s order, agreeing that there was no delay in filing the appeal. The case was sent back to the CIT(A) for a fresh decision on merits, with instructions to give the appellant a fair hearing and issue a clear, reasoned order.
In short,the appeal filed by the assessee was allowed for statistical purposes.
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