2025 (11) TMI 2027

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act for Assessment Year 2017-18. 2. The grievance raised before us is directed against the dismissal of the first appeal solely on the ground of delay, the learned first appellate authority having declined to condone the same despite a detailed affidavit setting out reasons which, according to the assessee, constituted a reasonable and bona fide explanation. 3. We have carefully examined the factual matrix as placed before us. The reasons for delay, as incorporated in the appellate order and further substantiated by the affidavit of the authorised trustee, emerge in a unified continuum. The assessee had filed its original return on 30 October 2017 declaring nil income in view of its charitable objects.....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....ysis caused by the pandemic. The delay is stated to have arisen only because the order was not known to the assessee, the notices had not been effectively served in a manner that could be acted upon in those extreme circumstances, and corrective steps were initiated with promptitude as soon as the assessee gained knowledge. The affidavit further avers that the assessee trust, being engaged entirely in charitable activities, had no taxable income at all, yet was confronted with a demand of Rs 13,81,799. This circumstance underscores the absence of any mala fide intention and evidences genuine hardship that would ordinarily guide a judicial mind to adopt a liberal approach in matters of condonation when reasonable explanation exists. 4.....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....an the process of filing an appeal. This sequence, in our considered view, represents a natural, logical, and bona fide chain of events. 5.1. The delay of 967 days, when viewed in isolation, may appear substantial, but once the entire period of limitation suspended by the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court is excluded, the residual delay is tangibly explained. The Apex Court has unequivocally extended the period of limitation for all judicial and quasi judicial proceedings until 28 February 2022 and directed that the entire period commencing 15 March 2020 shall stand excluded for computing limitation. This binding direction cannot be applied selectively. When the very foundation of the assessee's explanation rests on non service in prac....