Bechtel Power Corporation Vs ACIT (Delhi High Court)
The review proceedings before the Delhi High Court arose from multiple review petitions filed by the Income Tax Department seeking reconsideration of a common judgment dated 27.03.2025. By that judgment, the Court had allowed several writ petitions and issued directions to the Revenue to process the taxpayers’ income tax returns in accordance with law.
At the outset, the Court dealt with applications seeking condonation of delay in re-filing and filing the review petitions. Delays ranging from 54 days to 236 days were explained through separate applications. For the reasons stated therein, the Court condoned all delays and disposed of the applications.
The substantive review petitions were filed on the ground that the original judgment allegedly suffered from an error apparent on the face of the record and was contrary to the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Revenue contended that the writ petitions had been allowed without granting it an opportunity to file a counter affidavit or to obtain proper instructions. It was further argued that the directions to process the returns were issued without deciding a crucial issue, namely whether the income tax returns filed on 14.02.2018 were validly filed. According to the Revenue, directing processing of returns without adjudicating their validity resulted in grave miscarriage of justice.
