Sai Souhardha Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. Vs ITO (ITAT Bangalore)
Delay of 840 Days in Filing Appeal Not Condoned – Blaming Chartered Accountant Not “Sufficient Cause” – ITAT Bangalore Dismisses Appeal in Limine
Assessee, a Souhardha Credit Co-operative Society, filed ROI declaring ₹40.61 lakh and claimed full deduction u/s 80P, resulting in NIL income. AO during scrutiny u/s 143(3) r.w.s 144B denied deduction on certain “other income” (processing fees, e-stamping fees etc. ₹7.17 lakh) and interest from bank deposits ₹27.96 lakh, treating them as income from other sources and completed assessment at ₹35.14 lakh.
Assessee filed appeal before CIT(A)/NFAC with delay of 840 days stating that the email ID in the e-filing portal belonged to its Chartered Accountant who did not inform about the assessment order and therefore appeal could not be filed in time. CIT(A) refused to condone the delay and dismissed the appeal in limine.
ITAT held that assessee failed to show “sufficient cause” for such inordinate delay. Tribunal observed that once assessment proceedings were going on, assessee ought to have been vigilant about the outcome. Merely blaming the Chartered Accountant cannot justify long delay. Relying on Supreme Court rulings including Rajneesh Kumar v. Ved Prakash, the Tribunal reiterated that a litigant cannot shift entire responsibility to the counsel and must remain vigilant regarding its own case.
Accordingly, ITAT held that CIT(A) was justified in refusing condonation of delay of 840 days and the appeal was dismissed without going into merits.
Practical Litigation Takeaways from this ITAT Order
