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Judgment
PER ANUBHAV SHARMA, JM:
These appeals preferred by the assessee against the common order of the Ld. NFAC, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the First Appellate Authority or ‘the ld. FAA’ for short) in appeals filed before him against the order of the ld. Assessing Officer (hereinafter referred to as the Ld. AO, for short) passed u/s 147/144/144B/271B/271(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’). Further details of the orders of the lower authorities are as under:
| ITA No. & AY | Ld. FAA who passed the appellate order | Appeal No. & Date of order of the Ld. FAA | AO who passed the assessment order & Date of order |
| 806/D/26 2013-14 | NFAC, Delhi | DIN & Order No : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2025-26/1082501048(1) Dated: 11.11.2025 | National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Dated 17.01.2022 |
| 807/D/26 2013-14 | NFAC, Delhi | DIN & Order No : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2025-26/1082498781(1) Dated: 11.11.2025 | National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Dated 23.09.2021 |
| 808/D/26 2013-14 | NFAC, Delhi | DIN & Order No : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2025-26/1082499892(1) Dated 11.11.2025 | National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Dated 21.01.2022 |
| 809/D/26 2015-16 | NFAC, Delhi | DIN & Order No : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2025-26/1082500636(1) Dated 11.11.2025 | National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Dated 27.09.2022 |
| 810/D/26 2015-16 | NFAC, Delhi | DIN & Order No : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2025-26/1082499494(1) Dated 11.11.2025 | National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Dated 29.03.2022 |
On hearing both sides we find that ITA 807/Del/2026 is the appeal arising out of quantum assessment concluded u/s 147 r.w.s 144 of the Act and the remaining appeals are against the penalty orders and the impugned order of ld. CIT(A) shows that assessee had claimed in Form 35 that the assessment order was though dated 23.09.2021, however, as assessee was under some judicial custody in a criminal case from 19.07.2021 to 05.12.2022, the appeal could not be filed in the limitation period.
However, NFAC was not satisfied with the reason for delay and concluded that this was not a sufficient cause. In fact, NFAC records that except for an affidavit, the assessee has not filed copy of FIR or Court orders to substantiate his claim of imprisonment. NFAC also record the appeal was filed on 25.02.2023 after 82 days of release from imprisonment and there was no valid reasons for delay in filing of the appeals and condonation of delay from 06.12.2022 to 25.02.2023.
We are of the considered view that though there may have been some laxity on the part of the assessee for not following the assessment proceedings while being in imprisonment or thereafter once release on 05.12.2022 but at the same time to conclude that it was not a sufficient cause to condone the delay would be too harsh a conclusion as while being custody and immediately thereafter assessee may have had restricted resources and communication means to file appeal against the assessment order.
Thus, we are inclined to set aside the impugned orders and direct NFAC/CIT(A) to condone the delay before itself and give assessee a fresh opportunity to contest on merits as well as question of law, if any involved. The appeals are allowed for statistical purposes with a consequence to follow as above.