THE SANDHIAR GROUP COOP COTTON GORWERS ASSOCIATION LTD,SURAT vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD 2(2)(4), SURAT, SURAT

Per Sanjay Garg, Judicial Member:

1. On the basis of facts and circumstances of the case as well as the law on subject, the Ld. CIT(A) has erred in not condoning the delay of 10 days in filing of appeal before Ld. CIT(A).

2. On the facts and circumstances of the case as well as the law on subject, the learned assessing officer has erred in disallowing the deduction of Rs.13,39,528/- u/s.80P of the IT Act, 1961.

3. It is therefore prayed that the disallowance made by the Assessing Officer may please be deleted.

4. Appellant craves to add, alter or delete any ground(s) either before or in the course of hearing of the appeal.

3. The appeal is time-barred by 263 days. A separate application for condonation of delay has been filed, wherein, it has been stated that in the Appeal Form No.35 filed before the Ld. CIT(A), the assessee has mentioned as “No” in the column in which it was asked as to whether the notices can be sent on e-mail. Even the Ld. CIT(A) did not sent the notice on the mentioned e-mail in Appeal Form 35. Therefore, the assessee neither came to know about the dates of hearing before the Ld. CIT(A) nor could represent the case before him and even did not come to know about the passing of the final order of the Ld. CIT(A). Hence, the appeal was filed belatedly due to lack of knowledge and because of the aforesaid reasons, a delay of 263 days has occurred in filing the appeal. The Ld. Counsel in this respect relied upon the screen-shot obtained from the income-tax Portal.

4. Considering the above submissions, we are of the view that the interests of Justice will be well served if the assessee be given an opportunity to present his case before the Assessing Officer (AO) however, subject to payment of reasonable costs. We accordingly set aside the impugned order of the Ld. CIT(A) and restore the matter to the file of the AO for de novo The Sandhiar Group Coop Cotton Gorwers Association Ltd. vs. ITO Asst. Year : 2017-18 assessment subject to deposit a cost of Rs.5,000/- in the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. The assessee will furnish the evidence of deposit of the said amount before the Ld.AO thereafter the Ld. AO will pass the assessment order afresh in accordance with law.

Order pronounced in the Open Court on 27/02/2026.