Reasonable cause for delayed return filing is a question of fact; no referable question of law arose.

A Tribunal finding that the assessee had reasonable cause for delayed return filing for part of the period under penalty proceedings was treated as a finding of fact. The Revenue challenged only the correctness of that conclusion, but the High Court held that the existence or absence of reasonable cause does not, by itself, raise a question of law. The precedent relied on by the Revenue was distinguished as factually different and therefore inapplicable. On that basis, no referable question of law arose from the Tribunal's order, and the applications under section 256(2) were rejected.

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Issues: Whether any referable question of law arose from the Tribunal's finding that there was reasonable cause for the assessee's delay in filing the returns for part of the period covered by the penalty proceedings under section 271(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The Tribunal had held that the assessee had shown reasonable cause for the delay for one year, while rejecting the explanation for the remaining period. The only question raised by the Revenue concerned the correctness of that conclusion. The existence or absence of reasonable cause for delay is a question of fact, and the High Court found no basis to treat the Tribunal's finding as giving rise to a question of law. The earlier case relied upon by the Revenue was held to be on entirely different facts and was not applicable.

Conclusion: No question of law arose from the Tribunal's order, and the applications under section 256(2) were rejected.

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