Jitender vs ITO

PER C.N. PRASAD, JM,

This appeal is filed by the assessee against the order of the CIT(A)/NFAC dated 17.10.2025 for the A.Y. 2012-13 in not condoning the delay and admitting the appeal for adjudicating the grounds on merits.

The Ld. Counsel for the assessee at the outset furnished the following list of sequence of dates as under :-

The Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the assessment order is dated 07.12.2019 and due date for filing appeal before Ld. CIT(A) was 06.01.2020. The Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that since the assessee was not aware of the fact that the assessment was completed by the AO on 07.12.2019 and as the assessment order passed u/s.144 of the Act was not physically served on the assessee, the assessee could not file appeal in time before the Ld. CIT(A).

The Ld. Counsel for the assessee further submitted that by virtue of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court that delay in Covid period from 15.03.2022 to 28.02.2022 was condoned by the Hon’ble Apex Court by its order dated 10.01.2022 in miscellaneous application No.21/22 and therefore, even assuming for a moment that assessment order dated 07.12.2019 was served on the assessee on the same day the delay in filing the appeal could be out 749 days and not 1465 days as stated above. Therefore, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the delay of 749 days may be condoned as there is a reasonable cause in filing the appeal with delay and the appeal be restored to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) for deciding the issues on merits.

On the other hand the Ld. DR strongly opposed and submitted that the delay was not condoned.

Heard rival submissions and perused the orders of the authorities below. On perusal of the order of the AO which is an exparte order passed u/s.144 of the Act nowhere it is stated that any notices issued were served on the assessee. The AO also noted that no return in response to u/s. 148 of the Act was filed by the assessee and the assessment was completed in the absence of response from the assessee. The AO made an addition of Rs.18,13,000/- which is also an exparte assessment. The assessee filed appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) and submitted that the assessee came to know only during the current year i.e. 2020-2024 that the proceedings by the department in his case are pending while he was preparing for filing his return of income. The assessee explained that he took steps immediately for filing appeal through his representatives and file the appeal on 11.01.2024, on the submissions and the contentions of the assessee cannot be ignored while dealing with the condonation petition. The Ld.CIT(A) simply gone by long delay of 1465 days completely ignoring that the Hon’ble Supreme Court had already condoned substantial part of delay during Covid period. On perusal of the Ld. CIT(A) order, it is noticed that the Ld. CIT(A) is of the view that there is no reasonable cause in filing the appeal with such a delay and he did not even examine the contention of the assessee thoroughly.

In my considered view the assessee has reasonable cause in filing the appeal with the delay and, therefore, the delay in filing the appeal before the Ld. CIT(A) is condoned and the appeal is restored to the file of the Ld. CIT(A) who shall decide the grounds raised by the assessee on merits in accordance with law after providing adequate opportunity of hearing to assessee.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose.