THE KOOVAPPALLY SERVICE CO OPERATIVE BANK LTD NO 3949,KOVAPPALLY vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 2 KOTTAYAM, KOTTAYAM

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a cooperative society registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969. It is classified as primary agricultural credit cooperative society, engaged in the business of accepting deposits from The Koovappally Service Co-op. Bank Ltd. No.3949 members and providing credit facilities to its members. Return of income for the AY 2017-18 was filed on 16/03/2018 declaring nil income after claiming exemption u/s. 80P of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, 'the Act'). Against the said return of income, assessment was completed by the ITO, Ward-2, Kottayam (for short, 'AO') vide order dated 24/12/2019 passed u/s. 143(3) of the Act at a total income of Rs. 10,89,660/-. While doing so, the AO denied the claim for deduction u/s. 80P of the Act by holding that assessee is a cooperative bank.

Being aggrieved, an appeal was filed before the CIT(A), who vide the impugned order dismissed the appeal exparte for non prosecution.

Being aggrieved, the assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal in the present appeal.

At the outset, I find that the present appeal was filed with a delay of 940 days. The assessee filed an application seeking condonation of delay on the following grounds:-

On mere reading of the contents of the affidavit, it reveals that the appellant pleaded the ignorance of the proceedings as well as order passed by the NFAC, is not well-versed in the operation of Income-tax e-filing portal. The assessee’s CA could not file the appeal within the prescribed time and the assessee came to know about the appellate order and only on 06/02/2024 when the assessee received SMS alerts regarding outstanding demand. It is stated that The Koovappally Service Co-op. Bank Ltd. No.3949 thereafter immediately, petition u/s. 154 was filed before the Ld. CIT(A), however, since 154 petition is still pending before the Ld. CIT(A). The appeal was filed before this Tribunal with a delay of 940 days.

I have carefully perused the averments made in the affidavit. I am not convinced with the explanation offered by the assessee is bonafide. The assessee is a cooperative society and it is difficult to believe that it is not well-versed in the operations of the income tax portal. Moreover, the responsibility cannot be shifted to the shoulders of the CA. Name of the CA has also not been mentioned in the affidavit and the assessee had filed appeal without waiting for the outcome of the petition filed u/s. 154 before the Ld. CIT(A). Thus, the reasons given by the assessee does not really explained the delay hence, it is not a fit case to condone the delay. Therefore, the appeal filed by the assessee is dismissed in limine on the ground of delay.