What did the Tribunal hold?

The Tribunal condoned the delay in filing the appeal, acknowledging the assessee's circumstances. It also remitted the matter back to the Assessing Officer to provide the assessee with an opportunity to present evidence, ensuring the principle of natural justice.

The assessee's appeal before the ITAT was filed with a significant delay of 628 days, attributed to personal circumstances including the death of his son who handled his tax matters. The assessee requested condonation of this delay.

What were the issues?

Whether the delay in filing the appeal should be condoned due to the assessee's personal hardship. Whether the assessee should be granted a further opportunity to present evidence before the Assessing Officer.

Tejinder Singh Walia vs ACIT | ITAT Kolkata 2026

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘SMC’ BENCH, KOLKATA

Before: Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-(KZ)

ITA No. 640/KOL/2026 (A.Y. 2015-2016) Tejinder Singh Walia IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, ‘SMC’ BENCH, KOLKATA Before Shri Duvvuru RL Reddy, Vice-President (KZ) I.T.A. No. 640/KOL/2026 Assessment Year: 2015-2016 Tejinder Singh Walia,……………….……….…Appellant 47, Ballygunge Place, Ballygunge, Kolkata-700019 [PAN:AAIPW6296L] -Vs.- Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax,…..Respondent Circle-30, Kolkata, 2, Gariahat Road (South), Aayakar Bhawan, Dakshin, 5th Floor, Kolkata-700068 Appearances by: Shri Abhishek Bansal, FCA., appeared on behalf of the assessee Ms. Pampa Ray, Sr. D.R., appeared on behalf of the Revenue Date of concluding the hearing: June 10, 2026 Date of pronouncing the order: June 12, 2026 O R D E R

The present appeal is directed at the instance of assessee against the order of Id. Additional/ Joint Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-2, Mumbai dated 07.03.2024 passed for Assessment Year 2015-2016.

The appeal is time barred by 628 days in filing the appeal by the assessee before the ITAT. However, the assessee filed a petition

ITA No. 640/KOL/2026 (A.Y. 2015-2016) Tejinder Singh Walia as well as an affidavit before the ITAT on 15.02.2026 in support of condonation of delay of 628 days mentioning that due to Senior Citizen and entirely dependent on his son for all income tax compliances and digital communications, and suddenly son’s marital relations deteriorated considerably and owing to stressful and prolonged legal proceedings, my son was under immense mental trauma, which severely affected his ability to attend to any work including taxation matters and thereafter suffered a fatal heart attack and passed away on September, 2024 and resulting into a state of deep shock and had no one to look after or guide me in my legal and taxation matters. Thereafter finding out the order passed by the ld. Addl./JCIT(Appeals), the assessee appointed a Chartered Accountant for taking course of action and filed appeal on 18.02.2016 with a delay of 628 days from the statutory time limit and due to this reason, the limitation of time for filing of appeal was expired.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am of the view that the assessee was prevented in filing the appeal within the stipulated time before the Tribunal. Therefore, I am inclined to condone the delay of 628 days in filing the appeal. Hence the delay is condoned.

At the time of hearing before the Tribunal, it was the submission of the ld. Counsel for the assessee that the ld. Addl./JCIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal of the assessee without going into the merit of the case and simply relied on the order of

ITA No. 640/KOL/2026 (A.Y. 2015-2016) Tejinder Singh Walia the ld. Assessing Officer. Therefore, he pleaded to set aside the order passed by the revenue authorities.

On the other hand, it was the submission of the ld. Departmental Representative that the assessee failed to offer any explanation/supporting documents in respect of the grounds of appeal raised by him before the ld. Assessing Officer as well as ld. Addl./JCIT(Appeals). Therefore, he pleaded to uphold the orders passed by the revenue authorities.

I have heard both the sides and perused the material available on record. The assessee did not furnish any documentary evidence in support of his claim before the ld. Assessing Officer. The ld. Addl./JCIT(Appeals) just simply upholding the order of ld. Assessing Officer dismissed the appeal of the assessee without going into merit of the case. Considering the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, I find that the assessee was not in a position to file some of the evidences before the ld. Assessing Officer. But now he requested to remit the matter back to the file of ld. Assessing Officer to decide the issue afresh and to examine these documents. Therefore, in order to ensure the principle of natural justice, I am of the view that it is a fit case to provide one more opportunity to the assessee. Therefore, I remit the matter back to the file of ld. Assessing Officer with a direction to dispose of the appeal without any inference on the observations of earlier order passed by him. At the same breath, I also hereby caution the assessee to promptly co-operate with the proceedings before the Ld. Assessing Officer failing which the Ld. Assessing Officer

ITA No. 640/KOL/2026 (A.Y. 2015-2016) Tejinder Singh Walia shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in accordance with law and merits of the case, based on the materials available on the record. Thus, the grounds raised by the assessee in the appeal are partly allowed for statistical purposes.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is partly allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open Court on 12/06/2026.

Sd/- (Duvvuru RL Reddy) Vice-President (KZ) Kolkata, the 12th day of June, 2026

Copies to :(1) Tejinder Singh Walia, 47, Ballygunge Place, Ballygunge, Kolkata-700019 (2) Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-30, Kolkata, 2, Gariahat Road (South), Aayakar Bhawan, Dakshin, 5th Floor, Kolkata-700068 (3) Addl./JCIT(A)-2, Mumbai; (4) CIT - , (5) The Departmental Representative; (6) Guard File TRUE COPY By order Assistant Registrar, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata Benches, Kolkata Laha 4

TEJINDER SINGH WALIA,KOLKATA vs. ACIT, CIRCLE - 30, KOLKATA, KOLKATA

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