Pending appeal under Vivad Se Vishwas includes delayed appeals with condonation applications once admitted for consideration.

A delayed appeal filed with an accompanying condonation application was treated as pending for purposes of the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020 where the appellate authority had proceeded to seek written submissions, showing that the appeal was under consideration. The scheme and CBDT circular were read to include such appeals within the expression "pending" if they had been filed before the relevant cut-off and admitted before the declaration. On that basis, rejection of the declaration on the ground that delay had not been formally condoned was untenable, and the declaration was held maintainable with directions to process the forms.

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Issues: Whether the rejection of the petitioner's declaration under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020 was justified on the ground that the appeal was not pending as on the specified date because the delay in filing the appeal had not been formally condoned.

Analysis: The petitioner had filed an appeal with an application for condonation of delay, and the appellate authority subsequently called for ground-wise written submissions, which indicated that the appeal was being treated as admitted for consideration. The scheme treated pending appeals as eligible for declaration, and the CBDT circular clarified that where a delayed appeal accompanied by an application for condonation had been filed before the circular date and was admitted before the declaration, it would be deemed pending as on the specified date. The expression "pending" was understood to cover an appeal from the time of filing until disposal, and not only after formal admission.

Conclusion: The rejection was held to be untenable, the petitioner's declaration was held to be maintainable under the Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, and the authorities were directed to process the petitioner's forms.

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