Extended due date protects section 80P deduction where return was not belated and processing was based on mistaken delay.

Where a return is filed within the CBDT-extended due date, it cannot be treated as belated for the purpose of denying deduction under section 80P merely because processing under section 143(1) proceeds on an incorrect assumption of delay. The revised return was also furnished before the defect notice under section 139(9), so the original return was not non est. On those facts, the disallowance based solely on timeliness could not survive, and the intimation was directed to be rectified in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to deduction under section 80P of the Income-tax Act, 1961 when the original return was filed within the extended due date, and whether the intimation under section 143(1) could sustain disallowance of the claim on the ground of delay.

Analysis: The return for the assessment year was filed on the extended due date granted by the CBDT, and the revised return was furnished before the defect notice under section 139(9). On these facts, the original return could not be treated as non est. Since the disallowance under section 143(1) rested solely on the assumption that the return was filed beyond time, the basis for denying the deduction did not survive.

Conclusion: The disallowance of deduction under section 80P was unsustainable. The matter was remitted to the CPC for rectification of the intimation, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the assessee obtained relief against the denial of the deduction claim.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the return is filed within an extended statutory due date, it cannot be treated as belated for the purpose of denying a deduction merely because the processing under section 143(1) proceeds on an incorrect assumption of delay.

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