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Facts
The Assessee was levied a penalty of Rs. 79,93,699/- under Section 271AAC(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. An appeal filed before the Ld. CIT(A) was dismissed due to an 81-day delay in filing, which the Assessee attributed to counsel's oversight and lack of malafide intent.
Held
The Tribunal held that the Ld. CIT(A) should have condoned the 81-day delay by adopting a liberal approach. It condoned the delay and remanded the case back to the Ld. CIT(A) to decide the appeal afresh on its merits after hearing the Assessee.
Key Issues
Whether the Ld. CIT(A) erred in not condoning the 81-day delay in filing the appeal and dismissing it on technical grounds.
Sections Cited
271AAC(1)
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘B’: NEW DELHI
Before: SHRIPRADIP KUMAR KEDIA & SHRI YOGESH KUMAR U.S.
ORDER PER YOGESH KUMAR U.S., JM:
This appeal is filed by the Assessee against the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) [“Ld. CIT(A)”, for short], dated 22/12/2023for the Assessment Year 2017-18.
Brief facts of the case are that an order under section 271AAC(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) has been passed on 01/08/2023 by imposing penalty of Rs. 79,93,699/-. As against the order of penalty, the Assessee preferred an appeal before the Ld. CIT(A).
The Ld. CIT(A) vide order dated 22/12/2023 dismissed the appeal on the ground of delay in latches of 81 days in filing the appeal. As against the Page 1 of 3 appeal on the grounds mentioned above.
None appeared for the Assessee, notices sent by the registry were duly served on the Assessee, thus considering the above facts and circumstances, we deem it fit to decide the present appeal on hearing the ld. DR after verifying the material available on record.
Heard the Ld. DR and verified the material available on record. Ld. CIT(A) while dismissing the appeal filed by the Assessee, observed that the Assessee has not explained the sufficient cause for condonation of delay of 81 days. The Assessee contended before the Ld. CIT(A) that the delay in filing of appeal due to “non-communication and oversight on the part of the appellant counsel”. The appeal could not be filed on time and further contended the Assessee had no malafide intention in not filing the appeal on time, thus, sought for condoning the delay.
In our considered opinion, the Ld. CIT(A) should have condoned the delay of 81 days for the reasons stated by the Assessee by adopting liberal approach while condoning the delay and should have decided the appeal on its merit. Therefore, we condoned delay of 81 days in filing the appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) and remand the matter to the file of Ld. CIT(A) to decide the appeal afresh on its merit in accordance with the law after hearing the Assessee.
In the result, the appeal of the Assessee is partly allowed for statistical purposes.