TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (6) TMI 425
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.... the last one year, the post of Managing Director of the Company was held by five persons, each for a very short period of time. This frequent change in the post of Managing Director also prevented the Company from filing the appeal within the prescribed time. For the reasons stated above, it is humbly prayed that the Hon. Commissioner of Income-tax(Appeals) may be pleased to condone the delay caused in filing the appeal within the stipulated time. The copy of the medical certificate for the above cause is enclosed." 3. The CIT(A) has not condoned the delay in filing the appeals before him by observing as follows: 4. 2. The admission of appeals filed with delay is governed by the provisions of section 249(3) of the Act and the same reads as under: "The Commissioner(Appeals) may admit an appeal after the expiration of the said period if he is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not presenting it within that period. " 4. 3. Before going into issue of condonation of delay, it would be relevant to place on record principle laid down by Hon'ble Courts with regard to condonation of delay. In the case of Ram Mohan Kabra, 257 ITR 773, Hon'ble Punj....
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.... 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. " 4.5. In the light of the decisions of Hon'ble High Court and Supreme Court, as above, it is evident that the Appellant seeking condonation of delay in filing of appeal must bring all the evidence explaining the cause for such delay. Further, the cause relied must be an event period of limitation. 4.6. Now, applying the above principles to the facts of the case, the merit of the reasons stated by the Appellant are examined as under: a) The Appellant had stated that the authorized representative was laid up with severe back pain for the last one year and therefore the Appellant is prevented from filing the appeal within the time allowed. In support of the said claim, the Appellant had submitted copies of medical certificates and the same are as under: MEDICAL CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Mr. K. Suresh, 55yr Chartered Accountant residing at Nandavanam, Trivandrum is under my treatment for Backache ....
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.... summary, the appeal is dismissed." 4. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the record. There was a delay of 301 days and 303 days for the assessment year 2010-11 and 2011-12 in filing the appeals before the CIT(A). The reason given by the assessee for the delay in filing the appeals before the CIT(A) was that the Chartered Accountant of the assessee was suffering from backache which was supported by the medical certificate issued by the Orthopedic Surgeon. It was also submitted that there was frequent changes of Managing Director of the assessee-Corporation. These facts were not believed by the CIT(A) on the reason that the assessee's Chartered Accountant, Shri K. Suresh attended the hearing before the Assessing Officer on 28/03/2014. Further, the CIT(A) stated that the assessee has not specified the dates when the managing directors were changed and what were the reasons for which the previous persons holding the post of managing director were prevented from filing the appeals before the CIT(A). In our opinion, when there was a valid medical certificate issued by the Specialist Doctor, the CIT(A) cannot doubt the same without bringing any material contrary to the fac....
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....e authority as the delay was only for a very short period and the assessee was not going to gain anything from it. 4.2 It is to be noted that the landmark decision on the issue of condonation by the Apex Court in the case of Collector Land Acquisition vs. Mst. Katigi (167 ITR 471) wherein the Apex Court has given guidelines that courts should have a liberal and practical approach in exercising the power of condonation of appeal, the context was dismissal as time barred for 4 days. 4.3 In the same case, the Apex Court had also held that doctrine of Equality Before Law is applicable to all the litigants including the State as a litigant. They are accorded the same treatment and the law is administered in an even handed manner. 4.3 It is also well settled judicial principle that words or lines out of a decision should not be exported to be interpolated as precedent with complete disregard of the context. 4.4 Accordingly, we direct the CIT(A) to admit the appeals and dispose of the appeals on merits. In view of this, we refrain from going into other grounds raised by the assessee since the CIT(A) had dismissed the appeals in limene. Thus, the appeals of the assessee are partly ....
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....ant humbly prays that the grounds of appeal before the CIT (A) may also be considered as part of these grounds. 12. The appellant craves leave to file additional grounds at the time of hearing. For these and other grounds that may be urged at the time of hearing, the appellant humbly prays that the Hon'ble Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Cochin Bench, may kindly be pleased to set aside the asst. order, accept the grounds urged herein and allow the appeal and render justice. 6. The facts of the case are that on perusal of the accounts and schedules the Assessing Officer found that the assessee company had not remitted the amount of Rs. 4, 89, 48, 224/- being VAT payable before the due date of filing of the return of income. Hence, the same was disallowed as per the provisions of section 43B of the Act. 7. On appeal, the CIT(A) observed that the provisions of section 43B of the Act are not applicable to the assessee since the assessee had not produced any evidence to show that the provisions of section 43B of the Act have been complied by the assessee. In the absence of the same, the CIT(A) confirmed the addition of Rs. 4, 89, 48, 224/-. 8. Against this, the assessee i....