The court ruled that technical errors in financial reporting should not bar refund claims, emphasizing the importance of considering genuine hardship in condoning delays in revised tax returns.

JUDGMENT :

BHARGAV D. KARIA, J.

1. Heard learned Senior Advocate Mr.Tushar Hemani with learned advocate Ms.Vaibhavi K. Parikh for the petitioner and learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr.Karan G. Sanghani for the respondent.

2. Rule, returnable forthwith. Learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr.Karan Sanghani waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondent.

3. Having regard to the controversy arising in this petition in narrow compass, the same is taken up for hearing with the consent of the learned advocates for the respective parties.

4. The brief facts of the case are as under :

4.1. The petitioner is a partnership firm and obtained Tax Audit Report for the year under consideration under Section 44AB of the INCOME TAX ACT , 1961 (for short ‘the Act’) on 25.09.2018 which was duly uploaded on the Income Tax portal on the 25.09.2018 and the petitioner filed return of income on 25.09.2018 for the year under consideration declaring total income at Rs.39,98,720/-.

4.2. It is the case of the petitioner that after taking credit of Tax Deducted at Source (for short ‘the TDS’), the petitioner was eligible for refund of Rs.5,19,730/-. Thereafter, the Petitioner received a communication dated 21.01.2019 from the Centralized Processing Center (for short ‘the CPC’) whereby, a positive adjustment of Rs.6,18,311/- was proposed under section 36(1) (va) of the Act in respect of employees' contribution to Provident Fund/Employees' State Insurance (for short ‘the PF/ESI’) to the extent the same has not been credited to the employees' account on or before the prescribed due date. However, inadvertently and due to oversight, the petitioner could not furnish reply to the said communication received from CPC.

4.3. The petitioner, after receipt of the aforesaid communication dated 21.01.2019 from the CPC, examined the Tax Audit Report uploaded on 25.09.2018 and at that time, it came to the knowledge of the petitioner that there was an error in mentioning "due date for payment" in "column 20b" of the Tax Audit Report inasmuch as at some places, year was mentioned as "2016" instead of "2017" and at some places, year was mentioned as "2017" instead of "2018". It is the case of the petitioner that such errors occurred for all the items in respect of the PF and for first two items in relation to the the ESI. Accordingly, such error was in respect of the contribution aggregating to Rs.5,58,012/- in respect of the PF and contribution aggregating to Rs.60,299/-in respect of the ESI. Thus, error was in respect of aggregate sum of Rs.6,18,311/- (i.e. Rs.5,58,012/- + Rs.60,299/-) which is equivalent to the positive adjustment proposed by the CPC vide communication dated 21.01.2019 and upon realising such error, the petitioner obtained a fresh Tax Audit Report from the Chartered Accountant concerned and the same was uploaded on the Income Tax portal on 29.05.2019.

4.4. It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner received a communication dated 03.01.2020 from the CPC whereby, a positive adjustment of Rs.95,661/- was proposed under section 36(1)(va) of the Act in respect of employees' contribution to the PF/ the ESI to the extent, the same has not been credited to the employees' account on or before the prescribed due date. However, the petitioner could not furnish reply to the said communication received from CPC.

4.5. It is further the case of the petitioner that the petitioner, upon receipt of the communication dated 03.01.2020 from CPC, again minutely examined the Tax Audit Report and thereafter, it was again realized that there was an error in mentioning the "due date for payment" in column 20b of the Tax Audit Report to the effect that the due date for payment as regards the 4^th item (contribution of Rs.50,434/- to PF) was mentioned as "15.08.2107" instead of "15.08.2017" and at this stage, it was clarified that there was a delay in depositing the employees' contribution to PF to the