The Allahabad High Court has condoned the 3 days delay to the taxpayer to avail benefits under Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act.
The petitioner has challenged the order passed by respondent by which the application of the petitioner for condoning the delay of three days in depositing the balance amount payable by him under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020, has been rejected.
The Parliament enacted the Act 2020 for the resolution of disputed tax. As per the above Act, 2020, the declarant should submit his declaration u/s 4 before the designated authority, and thereafter the designated authority, after receiving the declaration submitted by the declarant, will grant a certificate to the declarant containing particulars of the tax arrears and the amount payable after such determination.
The petitioner contended that petitioner also met with an unfortunate accident on 1.11.2021 in which serious injuries were caused in his right knee and he was advised complete bed rest for a period of three days i.e. from 1.11.2021 to 3.11.2021 and in support of his claim, the petitioner has also annexed the medical certificate issued by the doctor.
However, despite depositing the money in the account of the Income Tax Department, he was not permitted to submit/file Form-IV so as to entirely avail the benefit of the scheme under the Act 2020 because of the delay of three days in the generation of challan by the bank.
The authority stated that
default
after getting the declaration of the petitioner, certificate u/s 5 of the Act 2020 in Form-III was issued to the petitioner on 9.11.2020, but the petitioner by skipping the dates for depositing balance outstanding, kept on waiting for the extension of date and even could not deposit the balance outstanding of tax till last extended date.
The court held,“While in the judgement of M/s Ken Computek Pvt. Ltd. vs. Designated Committee (SVLDRS) and others, passed in SLP (C) No. 2116 of 2023, the Apex Court did not consider the issue of condoning the delay in extraordinary circumstances but only observed that benefit of scheme cannot be extended from the time prescribed under the scheme.”
Case Title: Digvendra Pratap Singh V/s UOI
Case No: Writ Tax No. – 1510 of 2022