REKHABEN SURESH SANGHVI,MUMBAI V. INCOME TAX OFFICER, MUMBAI

ITA 6855/MUM/2024

AI Insights

This case involves an appeal by Ms. Rekhaben Suresh Sanghvi against the order of the National Faceless Appeal Center (NFAC)/Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), which dismissed her appeal as time-barred. The original assessment order was passed under section 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on 26.11.2019 for the assessment year 2017-18. The Assessee filed her appeal on 15.11.2022, significantly later than the deadline of 25.12.2019. The delay was attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and personal circumstances, including unawareness of electronic notices and a change of residence. The Tribunal considered the Supreme Court's decision in suo-moto Writ Petition (c) No.3 OF 2020, which excluded certain periods during the pandemic from limitation calculations, and found that the delay should be computed as 164 days instead of 1055 days. Consequently, the Tribunal allowed the appeal for statistical purposes and remanded the case for a decision on the merits.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 713067 (ITAT-MUMBAI)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 28-07-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Other Referred Cases: suo-moto Writ Petition (c) No.3 OF 2020
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: KAVAN LIMBASIYA; LD.
• Assessee Lawyers: VINITA NARA; LD
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard; Corroborative evidences
• Section: 144

Judgement Text

" IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, MUMBAI BENCH “SMC”, MUMBAI BEFORE SHRI NARENDER KUMAR CHOUDHRY, JUDICIAL MEMBER ITA No.6855/M/2024 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Ms. Rekhaben Suresh Sanghvi, 22, 2nd Floor, B-Wing, Janki Niwas, Near Pai Hospital, Girgaon, Maharashtra – 400 004 PAN: ABEPS9696M Vs. Income Tax Officer, Room No.202, 2nd Floor, Matru Mandir, Tardeo, Maharashtra – 400 007 (Appellant) (Respondent) Present for: Assessee by : Ms. Vinita Nara, Ld. A.R. Revenue by : Shri Kavan Limbasiya, Ld. Sr. D.R. Date of Hearing : 12.06.2025 Date of Pronouncement : 28.07.2025 O R D E R Per : Narender Kumar Choudhry, Judicial Member: This appeal has been preferred by the Assessee against the order dated 28.10.2024, impugned herein, passed by the National Faceless Appeal Center (NFAC)/ Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) (in short Ld. Commissioner) u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short ‘the Act’) for the A.Y. 2017-18. 2. In this case the assessment order was passed on 26.11.2019 u/s 144 of the Act against which the Assessee preferred first appeal before the Ld. Commissioner who vide impugned order ultimately dismissed the appeal of the Assessee in limine as time barred by observing and holding as under: Printed from counselvise.com ITA No.6855/M/2024 Ms. Rekhaben Suresh Sanghvi 2 “ There is a delay of 1055 days in filing of first appeal before him and the Assessee has failed to provide any appealing reason or supporting evidence to justify a delay over 1000 days. The reasons provided are general and do not constitute a “sufficient cause” as required u/s 249(3) of the Act.” 3. This Court has given thoughtful considerations to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and observe that the assessment order was passed on 26.11.2010 and therefore the Assessee was supposed to file first appeal within one month i.e. on or before 25th of December 2019 but the appeal was filed on 15.11.2022 and therefore the Ld. Commissioner construed the delay as 1055 days. 4. Admittedly, Covid-19 was started in March, 2020 which remained until May-June 2022 and therefore considering the peculiar facts and circumstances, as the entire nation was on hold during that time, the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of suo-moto Writ Petition (c) No.3 OF 2020 vide order dated 10.01.2022 in Re: Cognizance for extension of limitation, has excluded the time period i.e. 15th March 2020 to 28th February 2022 for computing the time limit in filing of appropriate proceedings including appeal before the Appellate Authority and thus the period can be concluded as under: Date of assessment order 26.11.2019 Actual delay if any First appeal was to be filed on or before 25.12.2019 Hon’ble Supreme Court has exempted the period upto 15th March 2020 to 28th February 2022 The Assessee ultimately filed the appeal on 15.11.2022 Printed from counselvise.com ITA No.6855/M/2024 Ms. Rekhaben Suresh Sanghvi 3 Delay occurred started before Covid-19 25-12-2019 to 14-03-2020 80 days Period excluded by Hon’ble Apex Court 21.03.2020 to 22.07.2022 Time started from 23- 07- 2022 as per Hon’ble Apex Court Judgment 23-07-2022 onwards and therefore the appeal was supposed to be filed on or before 22-08- 2022 and thereafter delay started and ended on 15-11-2022 and thus delay would be 84 days Thus total delay would be 80+84 = 164days 5. May be due to oversight or inadvertently, the Ld. Commissioner failed to take cognizance of the judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the aforesaid case. Thus the delay can be computed as 164 days only. Thus, considering reasons for delay as explained by the Assessee by submitting “that she being an uneducated, unfamiliar with computers and hence was unaware of the electronic notices issued by the Department, further, the Assessee has also changed her residence and therefore she could not receive physical notices and even some disputes were going on with previous consultant, who was handling the case, which also resulted in delay in filing the first appeal before the Ld. Commissioner”, as bonafide, unintentional and genuine, the delay of 164 days in filling of first appeal before the Ld. Commissioner, is condoned and consequently the case is remanded to the file of the Ld. Commissioner for decision on merit, suffice to say, by affording reasonable opportunity of being heard to the Assessee. Printed from counselvise.com ITA No.6855/M/2024 Ms. Rekhaben Suresh Sanghvi 4 6. In the result, the appeal of the Assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 28.07.2025. Sd/- (NARENDER KUMAR CHOUDHRY) JUDICIAL MEMBER * Kishore, Sr. P.S. Copy to: The Appellant The Respondent The CIT, Concerned, Mumbai The DR Concerned Bench //True Copy// By Order Dy/Asstt. Registrar, ITAT, Mumbai. Printed from counselvise.com "