Jayanta Ghosh Vs ITO (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court allowed an appeal filed under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act and set aside an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Kolkata Bench, which had dismissed the assessee’s appeal on the ground of delay. The Court condoned a delay of 430 days in filing the appeal and directed the Tribunal to examine the jurisdictional validity of reassessment proceedings under Section 151 of the Income Tax Act as a preliminary issue.
The case arose from reassessment proceedings initiated under Section 147 for Assessment Year 2017-18. The Assessing Officer had passed an ex-parte order making an addition of ₹13,76,200 by invoking Section 50C or Section 56(2), alleging that the purchase price of an immovable property at Rajarhat was lower than its stamp duty value. The assessee challenged the assessment before the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), but the appeal was dismissed in limine due to a delay of 430 days. The ITAT subsequently upheld the dismissal on limitation grounds, observing that the assessee had failed to produce documentary evidence such as the death certificate of his authorized representative to establish “sufficient cause” for the delay.
The High Court admitted the appeal and framed substantial questions of law relating to whether the Tribunal acted perversely by dismissing the appeal solely on limitation without considering a jurisdictional challenge, whether the death of an authorized representative in a faceless regime constituted “sufficient cause” under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, and whether the reassessment proceedings were void for want of approval from the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (PCCIT) under Section 151.
