THE PONDICHERY STATE CO- OPERATIVE CONSUMERS FEDERATION LTD CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY,PONDICHERRY V. ACIT, CIRCLE-1, PONDICHERRY, PONDICHERRY

ITA 2943/CHNY/2024

AI Insights

The case involves The Pondicherry State Co-operative Consumers Federation Ltd., which appealed against the order of the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-1, Puducherry, for the Assessment Year 2018-19. The primary contention was the non-condonation of a 284-day delay in filing the appeal and the refusal to admit additional evidence by the CIT(A). The Tribunal noted that the Supreme Court had extended the limitation period for filing appeals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which effectively negated the delay. Consequently, the Tribunal allowed the appeal for statistical purposes and remitted the case back to the CIT(A) for a decision on the merits.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 107056 (ITAT-CHENNAI)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 26-03-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: A
• Assessment Year: 2018-2019
• Other Referred Cases: Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No.3 of 2020
• Laws Referred To: Income-tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: P. VIJAIDEEPAN
• Assessee Lawyers: M. KARUNAKARAN
• Keywords: Set aside; Additional evidence; Period of limitation; Time period of passing order
• Section: 143(3)

Judgement Text

"आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, ‘ए’ \u0011ा यपीठ, चे\u0016ई। IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ‘A’ BENCH: CHENNAI \u0019ी मनु क ुमा र िग र, \u0011ा ियक सद! एवं \u0019ी जगदीश, लेखा सद! क े सम' BEFORE SHRI MANU KUMAR GIRI, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI JAGADISH, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ITA No.2943/Chny/2024 िनधा 8रण वष8 /Assessment Year: 2018-19 The Pondicherry State Co- operative Consumers Federation Ltd., A-38, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Pondicherry – 605 009. [PAN: AAAAT 0150B] Vs. The Asst. Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-1, Puducherry. (अपीलाथ\u0007/Appellant) (\b यथ\u0007/Respondent) अपीलाथF की ओर से/ Appellant by : Shri M. Karunakaran, Advocate HIथF की ओर से /Respondent by : Shri P. Vijaideepan, JCIT सुनवाई की तारीख/Date of Hearing : 13.02.2025 घोषणा की तारीख /Date of Pronouncement : 26.03.2025 आदेश / O R D E R PER JAGADISH, A.M : Aforesaid appeal filed by the assessee for Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 arises out of the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax, National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi [hereinafter “CIT(A)”] dated 26.09.2024 in the matter of assessment framed by the Assessing Officer [AO] u/s. 143(3) r.w.s 144B of the Income-tax Act,1961 (hereinafter “the Act”) on 17.04.2021. ITA No.2943/Chny/2024 :- 2 -: 2. The effective ground of appeal in this appeal of assessee is against not condoning the delay 284 days in filing the appeal and not admitting additional evidence while dismissing the appeal by the Ld. CIT(A). 3. The assessee has filed its return of income declaring total income at Nil. The A.O has passed order u/s. 143(3) r.w.s 144 dated 17.04.2021 by assessing income at Rs. 17,25,53,860/-. Aggrieved, the assessee filed appeal before Ld. CIT(A) on 26.01.2022 with a delay of 284 days. The Ld. CIT(A) did not condone the delay and also refused to accept the addition evidences submitted by the assessee and dismissed the appeal. 4. The Ld. Authorized Representative (A.R) of the assessee before us has stated that the assessment order in this case was passed on 17.04.2021 and the appeal was filed on 26.01.2022 and the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No.3 of 2020 dated 23.09.2021 had extended the limitation period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 for all legal and judicial proceedings due to Covid-19. Therefore, there was no delay in filling the appeal and the Ld. CIT(A) ITA No.2943/Chny/2024 :- 3 -: ought to have accepted the addition evidence, and adjudicated the appeal on merits. 5. On the other hand, the Ld. Departmental Representative (DR), has relied on the orders of lower authorities. 6. We have heard the rival submissions, and perused the materials available on record. We note that assessment order in this case was passed on 17.04.2021 by NFAC, Delhi. The assessee has filed appeal on 26.01.2022. The Ld. CIT(A) dismissed the appeal for the reason that there was 284 days delay in filing the appeal. However, we find that the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No.3 of 2020 dated 23.09.2021, had extended the limitation period till 28.02.2022 due to Covid-19. Hence there was no delay in filing the appeal. Therefore, the Ld. CIT(A) was not justified to dismiss the appeal in limine. Accordingly, we set aside the order of Ld. CIT(A) and remit the matter back to the file of Ld. CIT(A) with a direction to adjudicate the appeal on merits and also to accept the additional evidence, which is relevant for deciding the issue. In view of the above, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. ITA No.2943/Chny/2024 :- 4 -: 7. In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced on 26th March, 2025. Sd/- Sd/- (मनु क ुमार िग र) (Manu Kumar Giri) \u0011ाियक सद! / Judicial Member (जगदीश) (Jagadish) लेखा लेखा लेखा लेखा सद\u0011य सद\u0011य सद\u0011य सद\u0011य /Accountant Member चे\u0013नई/Chennai, \u0016दनांक/Dated: 26th March, 2025. EDN/- आदेश क\u0019 \bितिल प अ े षत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथ\u0007/Appellant 2. \b थ\u0007/Respondent 3. आयकर आयु\u000f/CIT, Madurai 4. िवभागीय \bितिनिध/DR 5. गाड\u0018 फाईल/GF "