TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1982 (9) TMI 93
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....ee on 7th July 1979, so that the appeal should have been filed on or before 6th Aug., 1979. However, the appeal was filed only on 2nd Aug., 1980. Consequently, there was a delay of eleven months and twenty seven days. The CIT(A) asked the assessee to explain the delay. the assessee filed a letter dt. 3rd July 1980, the contents of which have been reproduced by the CIT(A) in his order. This letter of the assessee suggests that the appeal could not be filed earlier because the assessee did not receive the demand notice earlier. The CIT(A) heard the representative of the assessee. In the course of such hearing it was stated by the representative of the assessee that the demand notice and challan were received by one of the assistants of the as....
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....ons: (i) He considered the affidavit of Shri G.S. Mehta as vague. (ii) He found that by its letter dt. 26th May, 1980 addressed to the ITO, another representative of the assessee (M/s V.R. Doshi & Co.) had stated that the appeal had already been filed against the demand for the year under consideration, and so stay of the demand was asked for. That letter dt. 26th May. 1980 referred to a notice dt. 28th Feb., 1980 on the assessee calling for the payment of the tax and the attendance of the assessee before the ITO on 3rd March, 1980. This letter stated that the assessment was already under appeal. From the above facts, namely that the demand under consideration was already stated to be under appeal in February, 1980 by another represen....
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....ter. Further, he referred to an affidavit dt. 24th May, 1982 sworn by the Managing Director of the company stating that the letter dt. 26th May, 1980 written by M/s V.R. Doshi and Co. was written by them without the knowledge of the Managing Director and that the demand notice for the year under consideration was never received by the directors of the company prior to 28th July, 1980. He stated that no appeal whatsoever was in fact filed against the demand raised for the year for the simple reason that not appeal could have been filed without verifying the facts. In support of the contention, he filed an affidavit dt. 24th May, 1982 sworn by Shri V.R. Doshi stating that the letter dt. 26th May, 1980 was written by him in genuine faith that ....
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....erified the records of the ITO and stated before us that the duplicate copy of the demand notice was issued to the assessee alongwith the forwarding letter dt. 28th July, 1980. Even if the appeal is taken to have been filed on 2nd Aug., 1980, it will be within time if the real date of service of the demand notice is taken as 28th July, 1980, as the appeal has been filed within a week of the receipt of the duplicate demand notice. The only question that arises for our consideration is whether the earlier demand notice served on the clerk, who had already notified his resignation, could be taken as service on the assessee, especially in view of the affidavits of the clerk concerned, the managing director and Shri V.R. Doshi. We have gone thro....