Bona fide prosecution before wrong forum can be excluded from limitation, keeping an income-tax revision petition within time.

Time spent prosecuting an appeal under a bona fide but mistaken belief that the order was appealable was excludable under section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 when the proceeding was pursued before a forum lacking jurisdiction. On that basis, the delay in filing the revision petition under section 264 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was to be computed after excluding the period spent in the earlier appeal. The revision petition was therefore within limitation and could not be rejected as time-barred; it had to be considered on merits.

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Issues: Whether the period spent in prosecuting an appeal filed under a bona fide mistake before a forum lacking jurisdiction was liable to be excluded for computing limitation for a revision petition under section 264 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The delay in filing the revision petition arose because the assessee had first pursued an appeal under section 248 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 under a bona fide belief that the order was appealable. The time spent in that proceeding was held to be excludable under section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963, as the proceeding was prosecuted bona fide before a court or forum without jurisdiction. Once that period was excluded, the revision petition was within limitation.

Conclusion: The revision petition could not be rejected as time-barred and was required to be considered on merits.

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