Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme clarification extends benefit to later-filed appeals filed within limitation without condonation.

The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, 2024 was clarified to cover an assessee whose appeal period had not expired on the specified date, provided the appeal was filed within the prescribed time thereafter without any condonation request. The removal-of-difficulty order addressed the anomaly created by excluding persons who had not yet filed an appeal though limitation remained open, and it deemed such later-filed appeals to be pending on the specified date. On that basis, the assessee was treated as an appellant for the scheme and the benefit became available.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, 2024 extends to an assessee whose time for filing an appeal had not expired on the specified date and who intended to file the appeal thereafter.

Analysis: The dispute centered on the scope of the definition of "appellant" in the scheme and the difficulty created by excluding persons who had not yet filed an appeal though the limitation period remained open. The subsequent order issued by the Central Government under the power to remove difficulties recognised this anomaly and provided that, where an order existed on or before the specified date, the appeal was filed within the prescribed time after that date, and no condonation application accompanied it, such appeal would be treated as pending on the specified date and the person would be considered an appellant for the purposes of the scheme. On that basis, the objection raised in the writ petition stood answered in favour of the petitioner.

Conclusion: The benefit of the scheme was held to be available to an assessee in whose case the appeal period had not expired and who filed the appeal within the prescribed time thereafter.

Ratio Decidendi: A removal-of-difficulty order under the scheme can validly treat a later-filed appeal, filed within limitation and without condonation, as pending on the specified date so as to extend the scheme benefit to such assessee.

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