B.N. Srinivas Reddy Vs PCIT (Karnataka High Court)
Summary: Karnataka High Court set aside the Principal CIT’s rejection of condonation for a 326-day delay in filing Form 68, holding that the taxpayer’s mistaken manual filing instead of online submission was a bona fide and technical error. Emphasizing that procedural lapses arising from genuine mistakes should not override substantive justice, the Court adopted a liberal, justice-oriented interpretation of Section 119(2)(b) read with CBDT Circular No. 9/2015. Observing that the 67-year-old petitioner had made timely manual compliance and acted in good faith, the Court ruled that such errors warranted leniency and remanded the matter to the PCIT for fresh consideration. The judgment reinforces that tax authorities must prioritize fairness and genuine hardship over rigid procedural compliance, ensuring relief is not denied for inadvertent or technical lapses.
Petitioner aged 67, filed a writ petition seeking to quash the order dated 30.04.2025 passed by the PCIT, Bengaluru-2, rejecting his application for condonation of delay u/s 119(2)(b) in filing Form 68 for AY 2022-23. The delay was 326 days.
Petitioner explained that his tax consultant had mistakenly assumed Form 68 had to be filed manually, & accordingly, the form was manually submitted before AO on 14.05.2024, which was within time. Later, when AO passed an order u/s 270A imposing penalty, & the Petitioner attempted to appeal u/s 264, it was realized that the form had to be filed online. On becoming aware of the procedural lapse, the Petitioner filed the form online on 12.03.2024 & sought condonation of delay citing genuine hardship under CBDT Circular No.9/2015 dated 09.06.2015.
