Procedural delay in Form 67 filing cannot defeat section 90 relief where no express disqualification exists.

A one-day delay in filing Form 67 was treated as a procedural lapse and did not defeat the assessee's substantive entitlement to relief under section 90 of the Income-tax Act. In the absence of express statutory language making timely filing mandatory and prescribing disqualification for late filing, technical non-compliance could not be used to deny foreign tax credit or other treaty relief. The delay was therefore required to be condoned, and relief could not be refused solely on that ground.

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Issues: Whether the assessee could be denied relief under section 90 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for delay of one day in filing Form 67, and whether such delay was liable to be condoned.

Analysis: The filing of Form 67 was treated as a procedural requirement. The absence of an express statutory consequence in the rules for late filing meant that a minor delay did not extinguish the substantive claim for foreign tax credit or relief. The reasoning emphasized that technical non-compliance, by itself, could not defeat the underlying entitlement when no mandatory disqualifying language was provided.

Conclusion: The delay of one day could not be used to deny the assessee relief under section 90, and the delay was required to be condoned.

Ratio Decidendi: A procedural filing requirement, without express statutory provision making timely compliance mandatory and disqualifying late filing, cannot be treated as fatal to a substantive tax relief claim.

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