Madhya Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Ahmedabad)
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Ahmedabad bench has partly allowed and remanded two appeals filed by Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam, back to the National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC). The ITAT’s decision on one appeal notably highlighted that the due date for filing an appeal should be calculated from the date the assessment order is served on the assessee, not merely from its issuance date.
Appeal for Assessment Year 2017-18 (ITA No. 109/Ahd/2025)
For Assessment Year 2017-18, MGVCL had initially filed its return of income on October 31, 2017. The assessment was completed on December 19, 2019, but was later set aside by the Pr. CIT under Section 263 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on March 31, 2022, for a de-novo verification. The Assessing Officer then completed the re-assessment on March 30, 2023, assessing the total income at Rs. 3,36,54,10,621/-.
MGVCL appealed this order to the CIT(A), NFAC. However, the CIT(A) dismissed the appeal solely on grounds of delay, calculating the due date from the assessment order’s issuance date of March 30, 2023, and concluding a delay of 115 days.
Before the ITAT, the company’s Authorized Representative (AR) argued that there was no actual delay. The AR asserted that while the assessment order was issued on March 30, 2023, it was served on the assessee on August 7, 2023. Based on the service date, the due date for filing the appeal was September 15, 2023. Since the assessee filed the appeal on August 25, 2023, it was well within the prescribed time limit. The AR contended that the CIT(A) erroneously ignored this crucial aspect of service date.
