Case Law Details
Punnorath Meethal Sankaran Vs ITO (Kerala High Court)
Introduction: The Kerala High Court, in the case of Punnorath Meethal Sankaran vs Income Tax Officer (ITO), addressed a critical jurisdictional issue regarding the acceptance or rejection of applications under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act. The court’s attention was drawn to the rejection of an application filed by the petitioner for condoning the delay in filing the income tax return for the assessment year 2017-2018, as outlined in Ext.P10.
Detailed Analysis: The heart of the matter lies in Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, read with Circular No. 9/2015 dated 9.06.2015. According to these provisions, the authority vested with the powers to accept or reject applications for condonation of delay in filing returns where the claim does not exceed Ten Lakhs for any assessment year is the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.
In the present case, the claim for refund exceeds Ten Lakhs, thus placing it outside the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT). Despite this, the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax-1, Kochi, passed the order in Ext.P10, rendering the decision without jurisdiction.
Recognizing this jurisdictional flaw, the Kerala High Court allowed the writ petition, setting aside the impugned order in Ext.P10. The matter was remitted back to the Principal Chief Commissioner, the 4th respondent, with a directive to consider and pass an order on the petitioner’s application (Ext.P8) expeditiously, within a period of two months.
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