Condonation of delay under the Limitation Act is not available for proceedings before a statutory tribunal; delay cannot be condoned.

Whether the Limitation Act's condonation provision applies to Income-tax Appellate Tribunal proceedings is examined: Section 5 is confined to courts and cannot be invoked for applications before a statutory tribunal under the Income-tax Act; accordingly, delay in an application under the tribunal provision cannot be condoned under the Limitation Act, and the prior order treating tribunal proceedings as amenable to Section 5 is vitiated. The writ challenging the tribunal's limitation finding was dismissed, resulting in a decision for the revenue on the limitation point.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether Section 5 of the Limitation Act applies to an application under Section 66(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal.

Issue (i): Whether Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is applicable to proceedings under Section 66(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal.

Analysis: Section 5 of the Limitation Act is confined to condonation of delay in proceedings brought before a court. Proceedings under Section 66(1) are before a statutory Tribunal which does not qualify as a 'court' for the purposes of Section 5. The Court examined the statutory text and concluded that Section 5 cannot be invoked to condone delay in an application filed before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal under Section 66(1). The earlier order which treated the Section 66(3) petition as if Section 5 applied to the Tribunal was in error and is vitiated by that legal mistake.

Conclusion: Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is not applicable to proceedings under Section 66(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. The writ petition challenging the Tribunal's limitation finding is dismissed (resulting in a decision in favour of the Revenue).

---