Vissamsetty Ramakrishna Vs PCIT (Telangana High Court)
Section 119(2)(b) Delay Condonation Application
The petitioner challenged the order dated 12.06.2026 passed under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, rejecting his application for condonation of delay in filing revised returns for Assessment Years 2020-21 and 2021-22. He sought permission to file revised returns and claim refund of tax deducted at source on ex gratia compensation received under the BSNL-Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2019, along with interest under Section 244A. The petitioner contended that the compensation was in the nature of retrenchment compensation and fully exempt under the second proviso to Section 10(10)(b) of the Act. He also relied upon relief granted to similarly placed BSNL retirees by various ITAT Benches.
Telangana High Court’s Observations
The Telangana High Court noted that various ITAT Benches at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Indore and Bangalore had granted relief in cases involving identically placed BSNL retirees. The Court observed that, upon the petitioner bringing these decisions to the Department’s notice, the application under Section 119(2)(b) ought to have been considered with a pragmatic and liberal approach, keeping in view the genuine hardship stated by the petitioner.
The Court further observed that the impugned order did not disclose whether the orders of the various ITAT Benches and other Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) orders had been properly considered, particularly as those orders had not been challenged further and had attained finality.
