Delay condonation in income-tax appeals is not appealable where the order concerns admission, not disposal on merits.

A refusal to condone delay in filing an income-tax appeal was treated as an order on admission, not as a disposal of an admitted appeal on merits. Because the statutory right of further appeal extended only to orders made under the provisions governing disposal of appeals, and not to an order refusing condonation under the admission provision, no appeal lay to the Appellate Tribunal. The court therefore held that an out-of-time appeal cannot be treated as having been heard or disposed of under the appellate disposal section, and the question was answered against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether an appeal lay to the Appellate Tribunal from the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's order refusing to condone delay in filing the assessee's appeal under the Income-tax Act, 1922.

Analysis: The statutory right of appeal under section 30 was confined to appeals presented within time. Once the prescribed period expired, the appeal could be entertained only if the delay was first condoned. An order refusing to condone delay did not amount to an order under section 31, because no appeal had been admitted for hearing or disposal on merits. Section 33 gave a further appeal only from orders made under sections 28 or 31, not from an order made under section 30 refusing condonation. The reasoning accepted the view that refusal to admit an out-of-time appeal is not a disposal of an admitted appeal.

Conclusion: No appeal lay to the Appellate Tribunal from the order refusing to condone delay. The question was answered in the negative, against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: An order refusing to condone delay in filing an income-tax appeal is an order under the provision governing admission of appeals, not an order disposing of an admitted appeal on merits, and therefore it is not appealable under the provision conferring further appeal from orders under the appellate disposal section.

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