Itat/4/2021 Of Principal Commissioner Of Income Tax, Siliguri v. Nitu Agarwal

OD-87 & 88 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTASpecial Jurisdiction (Income Tax)ORIGINAL SIDE ITAT/4/2021 IA No.GA/1/2021 PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOMETAX, SILIGURI -Versus-NITU AGARWAL ITAT/4/2021IA No.GA/2/2021 PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOMETAX, SILIGURI -Versus-NITU AGARWAL Appearance:Mr. P. K. Bhowmick, Adv....for the appellant.Mr. Subash Agarwal, Adv....for the respondent. BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE T.S. SIVAGNANAM -And- The Hon’ble JUSTICE HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA Date : 10[th] December, 2021. The Court : This petition has been filed by the revenueto condone the delay of 331 days in filing the appeal. We have heard Mr. P. K. Bhowmick, learned counselappearing for the appellant/revenue and Mr. Subash Agarwal,learned counsel appearing for the respondent/assessee. Under normal circumstances, the Court will definitelyexercise its discretion and take a lenient approach and very oftenwould condone the delay in filing appeal by the revenue.However, in the case on hand, we are compelled to take adifferent view on account of prejudice which has been caused tothe assessee due to this belated filing of appeal by the revenue.The period of limitation for filing the appeal lapsed on 21[st]January, 2020. Had the appeal been preferred by the departmentwithin the said time, the assessee had an option to go under theDirector Tax Vivad-se-Biswas Act, 2020 and file an applicationbefore the concerned authority. On account of the delay in filingthe appeal, the assessee was not in a position to exercise such anoption. That apart, we have perused the affidavit filed insupport of the application for condonation of delay and we findthat there is absolutely no reason assigned by the revenue tocondone the inordinate delay of 331 days in filing the appeal.Thus, both on the ground that no sufficient cause hasbeen shown by the appellant/department and also on the ground thatthe assessee has been put to prejudice which cannot be remedied, we are not inclined to condone the inordinate delay in filing theappeal. Accordingly, the petition for condonation of delay (IANo.GA/1/2021) is dismissed. Consequently, the appeal(ITAT/4/2021) stands rejected. (T.S. SIVAGNANAM, J.) (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.) A/s./S.Das