TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (9) TMI 951
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....he course of inquiry proceedings on the basis of some information received by the Department to the effect that the assessee had taxable income during the previous years relevant to the assessment years under consideration, notices under section 148 of the Act were issued to the assessee, which were duly served upon him. In response to the said notices, the assessee filed the returns of income. Thereafter, statutory notices under sections 142(1) and 143(2) of the Act were issued to the assessee, which were duly served upon the assessee. According to the Assessing Officer, the summons issued by him were not complied with by the assessee, nor any adjournment was sought. Under these circumstances, the Assessing Officer was constrained to complete the assessment under section 144 r.w.s. 147 of the Act. Ultimately, the Assessing Officer passed the assessment orders on 26.12.2000 for the assessment years 1994-95 to 1997-98; and made certain additions/disallowances in the said orders. For the assessment year 1998-1999, the assessee submitted his original return of income on 8.2.1999 declaring the taxable salary income at Rs. 89,657/-. This return was processed under section 143(1) of the ....
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.... to condone the delay and the appeals were dismissed in limine, and hence the assessee has filed these appeals before the Tribunal. 4. Shri Satbarg Singh, assessee and his counsel Shri Parikshit Aggarwal appeared before me at the time of hearing of the appeals. Shri S.K. Mittal, learned D.R argued the case on behalf of the Revenue. Shri Parikshit Aggarwal, learned counsel for the assessee reiterated the submissions made before the learned CIT (Appeals) and submitted that the jurisdiction to condone the delay should be exercised liberally. The matter relating to condonation of delay should be judged broadly and not in a pedantic manner. He further submitted that the learned CIT (Appeals) dismissed the appeals of the assessee as time barred without proper application of mind to the cause shown by the assessee in regard to the delay in filing the appeals. He further submitted that the impugned orders dismissing the appeals in limine are liable to be set aside. He accordingly, submitted that the delay may be condoned in filing the appeals before the learned CIT (Appeals). 5. Shri S.K. Mittal, learned D.R. on the other hand, submitted that for all the assessment years under considerat....
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....n is made to the date on which the order passed on the application is served on the assessee shall be excluded, or] (c) in any other case, the date on which intimation of the order sought to be appealed against is served." 8. From the above, it is clear that where the appeal relating to any assessment order, the appeal has to be presented within 30 days of the date of service of the notice of demand relating to that assessment order. It is an admitted fact that the appeals filed by the assessee against the aforesaid assessment orders were time barred. When the Tribunal remanded the matter to the learned CIT (Appeals) for a fresh decision, the assessee filed an application for condonation of delay in filing the appeals before the CIT (Appeals), which reads as under : "1. The appellant was not keeping up good health and was in severe depression due to various family issues. Copies of documents regarding his medical history are attached. 2. The appellant had various family issues during this period. His two daughters left India for study. The appellant had arranged funds for their studies but could not, repay the loans in time. Even the children did not send any money from abroad.....
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....54-55 dated May 5, 1955, the assessee does not appear to have explained why he waited for 56 days after he received the order on February 5, 1954, as aforesaid. It further appears from a letter dated April 9, 1954, from the Assistant Registrar of the Appellate Tribunal, Bombay, that the appeals were received by him on April 7, 1954, that is to say, one day beyond the period of limitation. In view of sub-rule (2) of rule 7, which provides that a memorandum of appeal, sent by post, shall be deemed to have been presented to the Registrar or to the officer authorised by the Registrar, on the day on which it is received in the office of the Tribunal at Bombay, it is clear that the appeals were received by the Registrar out of time. We have discussed the general mandatory aspect of the provisions of the Act and the rules thereunder in our decision in Govinda Chowdhury v. Commissioner of Income-tax referred to above. ............................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................. In the present case, the assessee appears to have ....
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....ssee submitted before the learned CIT (Appeals). I have carefully perused the copies of so-called medical record of the assessee submitted before the learned CIT (Appeals). At the outset, I may point out that the medical reports available at pages 44 to 51 of the Paper Book are dated 18/19.11.2014. These documents relate to HBA, Hemogram tests. These reports are not relevant because the appeals were filed before the learned CIT (Appeals) on 17.1.2013. The documents placed at pages 3 to 13 of the Paper Book are reports of Sugar/Blood tests, and these reports pertain to the years 2003 and 2004. The documents placed at pages 14 to 17 of the Paper Book are Diabetic Diet Chart. The papers placed at pages 18 to 22 of the Paper Book relate to prescription slip dated 15.7.2006 of Dr. T.S. Sandhu, Eye Surgeon. The documents placed at pages 23 to 43 of the Paper Book are reports of clinical tests and these tests were done in the years 2006, 2009 and 2012. It appears that the assessee has obtained the above reports in the course of routine medical check-up. These reports are mainly about BP and sugar level. There is no evidence on record to show that the assessee was in severe depression due ....
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....last day of limitation for filing an appeal. But when it allows limitation to expire and pleads sufficient cause for not filing the appeal earlier, the sufficient cause must establish that because of some event or circumstance arising before limitation expired it was not possible to file the appeal within time. No event or circumstance arising after the expiry of limitation can constitute such sufficient cause. There may be events or circumstances subsequent to the expiry of limitation which may further delay the filing of the appeal. But that the limitation has been allowed to expire without the appeal being filed must be traced to a cause arising within the period of limitation." 11. In the instant case, the assessee has miserably failed to prove the sufficient cause to the effect that because of some event or circumstance arising before limitation expired, it was not possible to file appeals before the learned CIT (Appeals) within time. It is relevant to observe here that the assessee was retired from the government service after attaining the age of superannuation. He has not taken retirement on medical grounds. He has retired as Superintendent Grade-I. There is no evidence on....