Mandatory interest for delayed return filing can be rectified under section 154 when omitted from assessment and no waiver request was made.

Statutory interest for delayed filing under section 139(8) was treated as mandatory, and the Income-tax Officer could reduce or waive it only under rule 117A on a proper application by the assessee. Where no waiver or reduction application was made, omission to charge that interest in the assessment order was an omission of something required to be done and therefore a mistake apparent from the record. On that basis, rectification under section 154 was available to levy the omitted interest, and the assessee's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether section 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be invoked to levy interest under section 139(8) when such interest had been omitted in the original assessment order.

Analysis: Interest under section 139(8) was treated as mandatory where a return was filed beyond the prescribed time. The discretion of the Income-tax Officer to reduce or waive such interest was available only in accordance with rule 117A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 and upon the requisite application by the assessee. In the absence of any application for waiver or reduction, omission to charge the statutory interest was held to be an omission of something required to be done and therefore a mistake apparent from the record. Rectification under section 154 was accordingly available.

Conclusion: Section 154 was rightly invoked to levy the omitted interest under section 139(8), and the assessee's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The omission to charge mandatory interest for delayed filing was a rectifiable mistake, and the assessee's appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where statutory interest is mandatory and the authority has no discretion to omit it absent a valid application for waiver or reduction, failure to charge such interest in the assessment order constitutes a mistake apparent from the record rectifiable under section 154.

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