TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (9) TMI 465
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....ations were rejected considering the then state of section 260A of the Act. 2. The Revenue took the matter to the hon'ble apex court and, by its order dated January 24, 2011, passed in petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 2611 of 2011, the order impugned was interfered within face of an amendment, vide Finance Act No. 14 of 2010 in section 260A of the Act. Thereby, this issue has been remitted to this court for a fresh disposal on the merits on a scrutiny of the cause offered by the applicants for condonation of delay. 3. We have heard Mr. U. Bhuyan, senior advocate assisted by Mr. B Chakraborty, advocate for the applicant and Dr. A. K. Saraf, senior advocate assisted by Ms. N. Hawelia, advocate, for the opposite party. 4. The factual background in both the miscellaneous cases is identical and the grounds enumerated seeking condonation of delay, are also same. The pleaded stand of the party logically is also common in both the miscellaneous cases. It would thus suffice to record the versions of the parties as available in the pleadings of M. C. No. 1029 of 2009. 5. According to the applicant, the certified/authenticated copies of the ....
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....his letter on January 29, 2008, the approval of the Chief Commissioner of Income-tax, Guwahati, was sought for and the same having been received on January 30, 2008, all relevant papers and documents were forwarded to the learned standing counsel on January 30, 2008, and the same were received by the latter on February 1, 2008. The applicant has asserted on solemn affirmation that subsequent thereto, details of the authorized officers were furnished to the learned standing counsel on February 6, 2008, whereafter, additional instructions were provided to him on February 26, 2008, and March 24, 2008. Meanwhile, admittedly, the period of limitation for filing the related appeal had expired on January 22, 2008. 6. The application discloses that thereafter, the learned standing counsel due to a series of personal difficulties, as detailed therein, could not attend to his professional engagements regularly. His mother suffered a stroke resulting in her hospitalization and that thereafter the long vacation of this court intervened. According to the applicant, the mother-in-law of the learned standing counsel met with an accident on October 22, 2008, requiring her hospitalization....
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.... against this, Dr. Saraf assiduously urged that as would be apparent from the disclosures made in the application, the applicant had been consistently incautious in the matter of filing the appeals, presented belatedly. The fact that the Assessing Officer did not forward the necessary documents for preferring the appeals for long three months being purportedly engaged in other official works unassailably testify to this effect, he urged. The learned senior counsel contended that the ground of providing a series of instructions is not only vague but also is unconvincing. Though Dr. Saraf, in his usual fairness did not dispute the correctness of the facts bearing on the personal difficulties of the learned counsel for the Revenue, he emphasised on want of bona fide of the Revenue and its deliberate negligence disentitling it to the grant of such discretionary relief. Dr. Saraf to reinforce his arguments placed reliance on the decision of the apex court in Balwant Singh (Dead.) v. Jagdish Singh [2010] 8 SCC 685 and of this court in State of Manipur v. All Manipur Regular Post Vacancies Substitute Teacher's Association [1995] 2 GLR 102 and in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Subrata Bora....
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....oach rather than to warrant explanation for every day's delay. Their Lordships ruled that the factors which are peculiar to and characteristic of the functioning of the Governmental institutions would require adoption of pragmatic approach and that the courts should decide the matters on the merits unless the case is hopelessly bereft thereof. 13. In Balwant Singh (Dead.) v. Jagdish Singh [2010] 8 SCC 685, the apex court was in seisin of a prayer for condonation of delay of 778 days in bringing the legal heirs of the appellant on record in the appeal before it. The facts thereof disclosed that the application therefor was of one page wherein, the applicants contended that they were not aware of the pendency of the appeal earlier and that they had come to know of it only in the month of March, 2010, whereafter, the application was filed on April 15, 2010. Their Lordships noticed contradictions in the stand taken to explain the delay and concluded that the applicants had acted irresponsibly and with negligence and, thus, there was an ex facie lack of bona fide. It was held that the conduct of the legal representatives of the sole deceased evinced that they had acted with ca....
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....able degree of procedural redtape in the process of their making and thus a certain amount of leeway is permissible. The necessity, however, of proving a sufficient cause was underlined adding that a liberal approach is essential to advance substantial justice where no gross negligence or deliberate inaction or lack of bona fide is imputable to the party seeking the relief. It was noticed in the contextual facts that the applicant had not made any attempt to disclose why during the period prescribed, the appeal could not be preferred. The applications for condonation of delay were, thus, rejected in the above factual premise. 15. In Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Subrata Borah Chowlek [2010] 3 GLR 312, the delay involved was of 59 days and the explanations furnished revealed, amongst others, that not only the applicant whiled away time at various intervening stages even after the expiry of the period of limitation, they waited for the summer vacation of the hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court to be over to have the matter attended to by their learned counsel from whom a second opinion was solicited. The following observations were made in the above fac....