The Bombay High Court while directing the matter back to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) quashed the order made by an officer who had never heard the Petitioner.
The bench of Justice M.S.Sonak and Justice Jitendra Jain has quashed the order on the grounds that the order was made by an officer who had never heard the Petitioner. There was no material on record to show that the Member of CBDT had made the order. The material only indicates that the order was approved by such Member.
The Petitioner/assessee has challenged the order, which is signed by Mr Virender Singh, Additional CIT (ITA Cell), CBDT, New Delhi, refusing to condone the delay of about 1585 days in filing a revised return under Section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for the Assessment Year 2015-2016.
The order has been made by quoting Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, which empowers the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to condone such delay to avoid genuine hardship to the assesses.
The Petitioner submitted that the order was neither made by the CBDT nor its member. This is a good ground to set aside the order and remit the matter to CBDT for disposal of the Petitioner’s application seeking condonation of delay.
The court held that order should generally be made after compliance with principles of natural justice and fair play. The fact that Section 119(2) does not explicitly refer to any show cause notice or opportunity of hearing is not grounds for non- compliance with principles of natural justice. In the absence of any provision to the contrary, principles should be read into the unoccupied interstices of a statute.
The court remanded the matter back to the CBDT for fresh consideration of the Petitioner’s application for condonation of delay.
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Case Details
Case Title: Bharat Education Society Versus AO
Case No.: Writ Petition (L) No. 21487 Of 2024
Date: 23/01/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Nitesh Joshi
Counsel For Respondent: Dinesh R. Gulabani
