Appeal to be treated as pending before court even if delay occurred in filing same was not condoned: HC

Case Details: Tushar Agro Chemicals v. PCIT - [2021] 130 taxmann.com 432 (Gujarat)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Ms. Bela M. Trivedi and Dr. Ashok Kumar C. Joshi, JJ.
  • Tushar Hemani, Sr. Adv. and Ms. Vaibhavi K. Parikh for the Petitioner.
  • Mrs. Mauna M. Bhatt for the Respondent.

Facts of  the Case

Petitioner-Tushare Agro Chemicals was desirous of settling the dispute involved in an Appeal pending on the specified date, i.e., 31-1-2020, had decided to avail the benefit under the said ‘The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020’ (DTVV Act). It had filed the declaration in the prescribed Form Nos. 1 and 2.
Petitioner has filed a writ petition before the Gujarat High Court against the communication rejecting the declaration filed under DTVV Act.

High Court Held

The Gujarat High Court held that it was not disputed that the appeal filed by the petitioner against the order of assessment was pending with the Appellate Authority, though there was a delay of 40 days occurred in filing the said appeal. It was also not disputed that the said delay had not been condoned by the Appellate Authority since the filing of the Appeal.

Citing a few rulings, the High Court ruled that there remains no shadow of a doubt that appeal could be said to be pending, even if the delay occurred in filing the same was not condoned and even if it was allegedly irregular or incompetent.
Therefore, respondent could not have rejected the declaration Form of the Petitioner merely on the ground that the appeal was not valid or competent, as the delay occurred in filing the Appeal was not condoned by the Appellate Authority.

Case Review

• • CIT v. Shatrusailya Digvijaysingh Jadeja [2005] 147 Taxman 566/277 ITR 435 (SC) (para 11) followed.

List of Cases Referred to

• • CIT v. Shatrusailya Digvijaysingh Jadeja [2005] 147 Taxman 566/277 ITR 435 (SC) (para 5)
  • Shyam Sunder Sethi v. Pr. CIT [2021] 130 taxmann.com 66 (Delhi) (para 5).