PCIT Vs K.C. Antony (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court held that income tax refund application filed under section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act after almost nine years cannot be condoned. Accordingly, writ petition dismissed.
Facts- The respondent/writ petitioner had approached the writ court impugning order passed by the Principal Commissioner, Income Tax rejecting the application filed by the respondent u/s. 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. In the said application that was filed in 2020, the respondent had sought to invoke the discretionary power of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax u/s. 119(2)(b) of the Act for the purposes of condoning a delay of three months that had been occasioned by him in filing a return for the assessment year 2010-2011 that would have enabled him to claim refund of tax that was lying to his credit with the Income Tax Department. In order, the Principal Commissioner relied upon a report submitted by the jurisdictional assessing officer and found that the respondent/assessee had submitted the application u/s. 119(2)(b) of the Act after almost nine years. He also found that in as much as the purpose for filing the belated return in 2012 was for claiming refund of tax, even if that delay of three months was condoned, the period prescribed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (C.B.D.T.) Circular No.9/2015 for condoning a delay in respect of an application seeking claim of refund being six years from the end of the relevant assessment year, the application preferred by the respondent/assessee could not be entertained. The application put in by the respondent/assessee u/s. 119(2)(b) of the Act was therefore rejected.
