Appeal Filing Delayed by 729 days Due to Death of Counsel and illness: ITAT Condones Delay, Remands LTCG Addition to CIT for Fresh Adjudication [Read Order]
The Tribunal observed that most notices were issued during the pandemic, and non-compliance was due to genuine reasons rather than deliberate default. Consequently, the addition of Rs. 17,02,441/- relating to the assessee’s 1/3 share of long-term capital gains was remanded to the Commissioner for fresh adjudication.
Appeal - Filing Delayed - ITAT - Condones Delay - LTCG - CIT - Fresh Adjudication - taxscan
Appeal - Filing Delayed - ITAT - Condones Delay - LTCG - CIT - Fresh Adjudication - taxscan
The Nagpur bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) condoned the delay of 729 days in filing the appeal, holding it to be bona fide and unintentional. The delay was caused by COVID-19disruptions, the death of the previous counsel, and the assessee’s medical condition.
There was a delay of 729 days in the filing of the appeal. Based on this, the assessee, Rupa Abhay Vyas, filed a duly affidavit claiming that the first notice, for the date of hearing in the appellate proceedings before the Commissioner, was issued to the assessee on 13.01.2021 i.e. during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Also, the Counsel Shri Ramesh Pandharinath Chandekar, who was dealing with the case of the assessee, was severely ill and, owing to his illness, he passed away on 20.03.2021, which resulted in passing the impugned order ex parte on 28.03.2023.
Later on, the assessee was diagnosed with a disease in 2023, and since then, he has been suffering from this disease, which has caused severe discomfort in walking, and he had to undergo treatment. Due to which he was unable to look after his case or income tax compliance properly.
However, on receiving the calls from the Revenue Department on payment of the outstanding demand, the assessee came to know about the impugned order. He tried to reach his counsel, Shri Ramesh Pandharinath Chandekar, but got to know about the death of the Counsel and therefore immediately filed the appeal on 26.05.2025, challenging the impugned order under consideration.
The single bench of Narender Kumar Choudhry (Judicial Member) observed that from the impugned order that the maxim notices for the hearings were issued during the Covid-19 period, except one notice dated 13.03.2023, which remained to be complied with because of the medical reasons stated above and the death of the previous tax Consultant of the assessee. The Tribunal remanded the case to the Commissioner for fresh adjudication in the matter.
Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
