Principal Commissioner Of Incometax-5, Kolkata v. Partha Chakraborty

ITAT/11/2022IA No.GA/1/2022IA No.GA/2/2022 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTASpecial Jurisdiction (Income Tax)ORIGINAL SIDE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOMETAX-5, KOLKATA -Versus- PARTHA CHAKRABORTY Appearance:Mr. Soumen Bhattacharyya, 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 The Court : We have heard Mr. Soumen Bhattacharyya,learned standing counsel for the appellant/revenue and Mr. SubashAgarwal, learned advocate for the respondent/assessee.There is a delay of 793 days in preferring the appeal. Wehave perused the affidavit filed in support of the application forcondonation of delay. We find that substantial part of the delayhas not been explained. The submission of the learned standingcounsel is that a major portion of the delay was during the COVIDperiod. However, this cannot be the test because, admittedly the appeal was filed only on 24[th] March, 2022 and the period for filingthe appeal expired on 27[th] January, 2020. The delay prior to thesaid period has not been explained and the revenue cannot takeshelter under the order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as theorder was operative much thereafter. Hence, there are no groundsmade out to condone the inordinate delay in filing the appeal.Therefore, the application for condonation of delay (IANo.GA/1/2022) is dismissed and the appeal stands rejected and thesubstantial questions of law are left open. Consequently, the connected application for stay (IANo.GA/2/2022) also stands closed. (T.S. SIVAGNANAM, J.) (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)