Delay condonation for revised return refund claim barred beyond CBDT's six-year limit under genuine hardship conditions.

A condonation request under section 119(2)(b) for filing a revised return and claiming additional refund was held not maintainable because it was made beyond the six-year limit in CBDT Circular No. 9/2015. The Court noted that the claim concerned belated TDS credit and was, in substance, an attempt to secure a further refund after expiry of the prescribed period. Relief was also unavailable because the application did not satisfy the circular's requirement of a correct, genuine claim based on genuine hardship. The absence of an assessment order under sections 143(1) or 143(3) did not alter the time bar, and the writ petition was dismissed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to condonation of delay under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for filing a revised return and claiming additional refund beyond the six-year limit prescribed by CBDT Circular No. 9/2015 dated 09.06.2015.

Analysis: The petitioner sought permission to file a revised return for assessment year 2012-13 on the ground that TDS had been credited belatedly. The application was found to be beyond six years from the end of the relevant assessment year, and the circular expressly bars entertaining condonation applications for refund or loss claims beyond that period. The case also did not satisfy the requirement that the claim be correct, genuine, and based on genuine hardship. The Court further noted that no assessment order had been passed under sections 143(1) or 143(3), and that the petitioner's attempt was effectively to obtain an additional refund by revising the return after the limitation period had expired.

Conclusion: The request for condonation of delay was not maintainable and was rejected; the writ petition failed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the rejection of the condonation application was not accepted, and the impugned order was sustained, resulting in dismissal of the writ petition.

Ratio Decidendi: A condonation application for filing a revised return and claiming refund cannot be entertained beyond the six-year limit prescribed by CBDT Circular No. 9/2015, and relief under section 119(2)(b) is unavailable unless the claim is within time and satisfies the requirement of a correct, genuine claim based on genuine hardship.

---