TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (7) TMI 351
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.... 2109/PUN/2026, 2110/PUN/2026, 2111/PUN/2026, 2112/PUN/2026, 2119/PUN/2026, 2120/PUN/2026, 2121/PUN/2026, 2122/PUN/2026, 2123/PUN/2026, 2124/PUN/2026, 2137/PUN/2026, 2138/PUN/2026, 2149/PUN/2026, 2150/PUN/2026, 2179/PUN/2026, 2180/PUN/2026, 2184/PUN/2026, 2185/PUN/2026, 2191/PUN/2026, 2192/PUN/2026, 2197/PUN/2026, 2198/PUN/2026, 2203/PUN/2026 And 2204/PUN/2026 Shri R. K. Panda, Vice President And Ms. Astha Chandra, Judicial Member For the Assessee : Shri Tanzil Padvekar (Virtual) For the Department : Shri Pawan Bharti (virtual) ORDER PER BENCH: All the above captioned appeals are directed against the separate orders of the Ld. Addl / JCIT(A) pertaining to assessment years 2020-21 and 2021-22. Since identical grounds have been raised by the respective assessee's, therefore, for the sake of convenience, these were heard together and are being disposed of by this common order. 2. Although various grounds of appeal have been raised by the assessee's in their respective appeals, all these grounds relate to the issue whether compensation received under the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Voluntary Retirement Scheme - 2019 (in short 'BSNL VRS-2019') by the respective ass....
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....ar 2021-22 03-03-2026 ITA No.2095/PUN/2026 Dismissed on account of Delay. ADDL/JCIT (A)-1 VISAKHAPATNAM 7 Bharat Ramchandra Kumbhar 2020-21 16-03-2026 ITA No.2096/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannot entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-1 LUCKNOW 8 Bharat Ramchandra Kumbhar 2021-22 16-03-2026 ITA No.2097/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannot entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-1 LUCKNOW 9 Balnath Bhaskar Kadbhane 2020-21 28-03-2026 ITA No.2101/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannot entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-3 HYDERABAD 10 Balnath Bhaskar Kadbhane 2021-22 28-03-2026 ITA No.2102/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannot entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-3 HYDERABAD 11 Ramchandra Maruti Maskar 2020-21 29-03-2026 ITA No.2103/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed on merits. ADDLIJCIT (A)-6 CHENNAI 12 Ramchandra Maruti Maskar 2021-22 29-03-2026 ITA No.2104/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed on merits. ADDL/JCIT (A)-6 CHENNAI 13 Vaman Tukaram Gawas ....
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....T (A), MADURAI 29 Jeetendra Uttamrao Bhople 2020-21 31-03-2026 ITA No.2184/PUN/2026 Delay in filing as well as on merit. ADDI/JCIT (A)-2 HYDERABAD 30 Jeetendra Uttamrao Bhople 2021-22 31-03-2026 ITA No.2185/PUN/2026 Delay in filing as well as on merit. ADDL/JCIT (A)-2 HYDERABAD 31 Kamagond Parasappa Biradar 2020-21 29-03-2026 ITA No.2191/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed on merits. ADDL/JCIT (A)-6 CHENNAI 32 Kamagond Parasappa Biradar 2021-22 29-03-2026 ITA No.2192/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed on merits. ADDLIJCIT (A)-6 CHENNAI 33 Sunceta Sunil Agawane 2020-21 12-03-2026 ITA No.2197/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannot entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-1 LUCKNOW 34 Sunceta Sunil Agawane 2021-22 12-03-2026 ITA No.2198/PUN/2026 Delay condoned, dismissed in merits (CIT(A) cannet entertain a new claim. ADDL/JCIT (A)-1 LUCKNOW 35 Tatoba Raghunath Gend 2020-21 30-03-2026 ITA No.2203/PUN/2026 Delay in filing as well as on merit. ADDL/JCIT (A)-2 HYDERABAD 36 Tatoba Raghunath Gend 2021-22 30-03-2026 ....
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....or assessment year 2021-22 xiii) Ramesh Bhimshankar Budwatrao vs. ITO vide ITA No.1890/PUN/2026 order dated 19.06.2026 for assessment years 2020-21 & 2021-22 & Ors. 7. The Ld. DR on the other hand though supported the order of the Ld. Addl / JCIT(A) but he could not bring on record any contrary material to controvert the submissions of the Ld. AR. 8. We find that the Pune Bench of the Tribunal in the recent case of Rajendra Himmatrao Patil vs. ITO (ITA Nos.302 & 303/PUN/2026) & Others for assessment years 2020-21 and 2021-22, vide its order dated 27.03.2026 has decided the impugned issue in favour of the assessee by observing as under: "5. Ld. Counsel for the assessee at the outset justifying the delay in filing of appeals before ld.CIT(A) submitted that the issue of claiming benefit of exemption u/s. 10(10B) of the Act for the amount received as compensation from BSNL for the force retirement has been adjudicated by the Coordinate Benches of Chandigarh as well as Ahmedabad and other Tribunals consistently holding in favour of the assessee(s). He also submitted that in various cases dealt by the Coordinates Benches, the alleged claim of exemption u/s. 10(10B....
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....ed claim before CIT(A). 8.1 Substantial justice is more important than the procedural delay. The Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Vijay Vishin Meghani vs DCIT [2017] 398 ITR 250 (Bombay) has condoned the delay of 2984 days, which was on account of professional advice of a CA. 9. The identical issue of BSNL employees is decided by ITAT Pune in favour of assessee in ITA Nos.290 and 293/PUN/2026,ITA Nos.294 and 295/PUN/2026. ITAT Pune has relied on the decision of ITAT Ahmedabad in the case of Jayeskumar Sutaria vs ITO, ITAT has extensively reproduced the decision and finally allowed the appeal of the assessee. The relevant paragraph of the said order is reproduced here under : Quote, "15. Further, I find the Coordinate Bench, Ahmedabad in the case of Jayeshkumar Tulsidas Sutaria Vs. ITO (supra) following the decision of Coordinate Bench, Chandigarh in the case of Harish Kumar vs. ITO Ward- 5(5), Chandigarh -ITA No. 42/CHD/2025 order dated 30.05.2025 has decided the issue in favour of the assessee by observing as under : "3. The assessee was employed with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a Government of India enterprise. BSNL notified th....
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.... am constrained to conclude that the appellant has failed to submit any reasonable ground for condoning the inordinate delay of 1,396 days i.e almost four years in filing this appeal. Being bereft of any sufficient cause as envisaged in section 249(3) of the Act, the appeal cannot be admitted. Since the appeal is not maintainable, there is no need to adjudicate on the merits therein. 5. Aggrieved by the orders of the Ld.CIT(A, the assessee is in further appeal before us. 6. We have gone through the records and considering the merits of the case, we condoned the delay and proceed to adjudicate the issue. 7. The Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that due to lack of awareness of the legal provisions at the time of filing the return of income, the assessee inadvertently offered the compensation received under BSNL VRS-2019 to tax. Subsequently, based on the decision of the Hon'ble ITAT Chandigarh Bench in Harish Kumar vs. ITO Ward 5(5), Chandigarh (ITA No. 42/CHD/2025 dated 30.05.2025), wherein compensation under the same BSNL VRS-2019 scheme was held to be exempt under section 10(10B), the assessee now seeks exemption of such compensation. We find that ....
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....) of the Act of the alleged sum and thereafter the Revenue authorities shall compute the tax liability and grant the refund (if any) entitled to the assessee(s) after due verification of such revised computation of income. Impugned findings of ld.CIT(A) are set aside and the common issue raised in the Grounds of appeal by respective assessee(s) stands allowed." Unquote 10. Before us the Ld.AR also filed copies of the Orders of CIT(A) who have condoned the delay in identical facts and allowed the appeal of the assessee who were BSNL employees. 11. In following cases the CIT(A) has condoned the delay and allowed those BSNL employees Appeal on identical facts. Sr. No Date Assessee Name Particulars Page No. 1 27/11/2025 Bhuvaneshwar Pandit Tambat Order under of section 250 Act 1-24 2 28/11/2025 Shripathi Rao Padubidri Govinda Order under of section 250 Act 25-33 3 12/12/2025 Ajay Pandurang Patil Order under of section 250 Act 34-51 4 12/12/2025 Ghanashyam Vitthal Dhond Order under of section 250 Act 52-72 5 12/12/2025 Ravindra Sahadu patil Order under of section 250 Act 73-89 ....