Court orders reconsideration of petitioner's tax return delay, granting relief for 1996-97 as in 1997-98.

The High Court set aside the rejection of the petitioner's application for condonation of delay in filing income tax returns for the assessment year 1996-97, remitting the matter back to the respondents for fresh consideration. The Court directed them to afford the petitioner an opportunity and process the returns in accordance with the law, emphasizing that the relief granted for the assessment year 1997-98 should equally apply to 1996-97. The Court allowed the writ petition without imposing any costs.

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Issues:
1. Condonation of delay in filing income tax returns for assessment years 1996-97 and 1997-98 under Section 119(2)(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Analysis:
The petitioner challenged the rejection of their application for condonation of delay in filing income tax returns for the assessment year 1996-97 by the third respondent. The petitioner had filed returns for both 1996-97 and 1997-98 on 31.03.2001, which were belated by two years. The delay in filing for 1997-98 was condoned, and the petitioner was granted a revision of Rs. 17,076. However, the application for condonation of delay for 1996-97, claiming Rs. 1,63,190 on account of jurisdictional hierarchic, was rejected by the third respondent in April 2003. The petitioner contended that the third respondent was not the competent authority to pass the impugned order. The High Court found that the impugned order was passed without affording an opportunity to the petitioner, setting it aside and remitting the matter back to the respondents for fresh consideration, directing them to dispose of it in accordance with the law and on its own merits after affording an opportunity to the petitioner within four weeks.

The High Court noted that the impugned order did not consider the relief granted for the assessment year 1997-98 when deciding on the application for condonation of delay for 1996-97. The Court emphasized that the relief granted for 1997-98 under Section 119(2)(b) should equally apply to 1996-97. The Court found that the petitioner, an individual assessee, had been granted relief for 1997-98, and applying the same yardstick for 1996-97 would not cause prejudice. Therefore, the Court allowed the writ petition, set aside the impugned order, and directed the first respondent to process the returns for the assessment year 1996-97 in accordance with the law, without imposing any costs.

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