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2021 (3) TMI 603 - HC - Income TaxRejection of application under Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020 (DTVSVA) - Appellant / Assessee has filed an appeal with the application for condonation of delay where the period for filing an appeal was already expired - Scope of the clarification issued by the CBDT as FAQ 59 as Q 59. Whether the taxpayer in whose case the time limit for filing of appeal has expired before 31st January, 2020 but an application for condonation of delay has been filed is eligible - HELD THAT: - In response to this query, several facets have been alluded to, which are not found in the 2020 Act. For instance, the respondent states that if the limitation or the time limit for filing the appeal expires during the period 01.04.2019 and 31.01.2020 (both dates included) and the application for condonation is filed before the date of issuance of the said clarification, i.e., 04.12.2020, the appeal can be construed as pending on the specified date i.e. 31.01.2020, only if it is “admitted” by the appellate authority before the filing of the declaration in the form prescribed under the 2020 Act. Insofar as the petitioner is concerned, as noted, the appeal which included the condonation of delay application, was filed on 11.07.2019, that is, well before the specified date; the specified date under the 2020 Act being 31.01.2020. We were not referred to any provision under the 2020 Act, which provided that limitation qua the subject appeal should be expired within the period spread out between 01.04.2019 and 31.01.2020 (both dates included) and it ought to have been admitted for it to be considered as “pending” under the 2020 Act. Section 2(1)(a) of the 2020 Act does not stipulate that the appeal should be admitted before the specified date, it only adverts to its pendency. Respondent no.1 seems to have, in our view, wrongly equated admission of the appeal with pendency. In our view, as noted above, the appeal would be pending as soon as it is filed and up until such time it is adjudicated upon and a decision is taken qua the same. We could have appreciated the stand of the respondents if a plea made for condonation of delay would have been rejected by respondent no.3/CIT(A) before the petitioner had filed Forms 1 and 2. If that situation obtained, the respondents could have, possibly, taken the stand that nothing was pending before the appellate forum. The order of rejection dated 28.01.2021 is bad in law. It is, accordingly, set aside.
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