Case Law Details
PCIT Vs National Fertilizers (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that delay of 498 days in filing of an appeal under section 260A of the Income Tax Act by the department officers cannot be condoned without sufficient cause being shown.
Facts- By way of this application brought u/s. 151 of the Civil Procedure Code, the appellant/revenue has sought condonation of delay of 498 days in filing the appeal u/s. 260A of the Income Tax Act. Irrespective of the provision quoted in its title, the application is treated as application u/s. 260A(2A) of the Income Tax Act. The application being completely bereft of even circumstances, what to say of sufficient cause explaining the delay, the respondent/assessee opted not to file a formal reply but strongly opposed the application.
Conclusion- The legislature under Section 260A of the Act has already granted a comparatively much longer period of 120 days to the revenue to file appeals. That in itself should call for rather stricter scrutiny of the matrix set up by the revenue to explain delays in filing its appeals. That in itself should call for a rather stricter scrutiny of the matrix set up by the revenue to explain delays in filing its appeals. But in the present case, as mentioned above, appellant/revenue opted not even to set up a specific factual matrix, apparently under overconfidence that the applicant being a government body and the issue being qua exchequer, the delay in filing the appeal would surely be condoned.
Largely, behind such delays on the part of government agencies in initiating appropriate legal proceedings lies extreme laxity, negligence and dereliction of duties on the part of government officials. Even in this hi-tech “click of mouse” age some of the government officials are yet to come out of their love for “snail pace” style of working.”
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