आदेश / O R D E R

PER SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER:

1. This appeal arises from order dated 01.09.2025, passed u/s 250 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter as “the Act”), by Ld. CIT(A)-3, Noida. In this case, the ITAT registry has reported a delay of 51 days in the filing of the said appeal, for which the assessee has filed an affidavit indicating the reasons for delay as under: -

“1. That I have filed appeal against the order u/s 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 before the Worthy CIT(A)- Noida.

2. That I have filed details submission in my case before the Appellate Authority. The order u/s 250(6) has been passed by the Worthy CIT(Appeals) Noida on 01.09.2025 and the same has been received on my Income Tax portal account.

3. That I have given the above said order to my accountant for filing of appeal before the second appellate authority.

4. That due to the misshaping in the family of my accountant, my accountant has went to leave without my permission and he has neither sent the order of CIT(A) to the counsel for filing of appeal further before the Hon'ble Bench.

5. That I did not know the above said facts.

6. That I got a call from the 'Income tax department' regarding some arrears of notice in the second week of January 2026. Then I came to know that my counsel did not sent order to my counsel for filing of appeal.

7. That I immediately sent my appellate order to Sh. Sudhir Sehgal Advocate for filing of appeal before the Hon'ble ITAT Delhi Bench.

8. That the delay in filing the appeal is as under:-

i) Date of passing the order by the CIT(A) 01.09.2025

ii) Appeal has to file 30.11.2026

iii) Date of filing appeal before ITAT 20.01.2026

Delay 51 days

9. That the delay in filing the appeal only on account of the above said bona-fide reasons are highly regretted and, as such, the same may, please, be condoned.”

1.1 Considering the reasons given in the said petition, the delay is condoned and the appeal is admitted for adjudication.

2. In this case, the Ld. AO passed an order u/s 154 of the Act and enhanced the income of the assessee by Rs.24,04,397/-. It is claimed by the assessee that the said order was not “properly served” on the assessee and therefore he could not file first appeal within the statutory time limit. Through the impugned order the Ld. CIT(A) has mentioned in para 2 at pages 1 & 2 of his order that the assessee filed the appeal after a delay of around nine years. The Ld. CIT(A) has further mentioned that even during the rectification proceedings (impugned before him) no reply was filed before the Ld. AO. Considering these factors the first appeal was dismissed in limine as the delay was not condoned.

2.1 Aggrieved with this the assessee has filed the present appeal with three substantive grounds which challenge the action of Ld. CIT(A) in dismissing the appeal in limine.

3. Before us the Ld. AR mentioned that there was a certain sequence of events which deserves to be mentioned as under: -

i. 05.03.2015 – Original assessment order passed u/s 143(3) of the Act;

ii. 22.09.2015 – Rectification order u/s 154 of the Act was passed enhancing the income by Rs.24,04,397/-;

iii. 18.03.2016 – An order u/s 143(3)/153C of the Act was passed on the assessee wherein the enhancement u/s 154 was incorporated in the computation of income;

iv. 30.01.2019 – An order u/s 250 of the Act was passed on the assessment order u/s 143(3)/153C of the Act.

v. 27.02.2019 – Appeal was filed before the ITAT in which the enhancement u/s 154 of the Act was duly challenged;

vi. 13.12.2023 – The ITAT passed the order in which this ground was dismissed as it did not arise from the impugned order before that Bench.

The Ld. AR argued that at least till 13.12.2023 this issue was alive in one form or another. It was the submission that the assessee was pursuing the matter to the best of his ability. The Ld. AR also pointed out the detailed submissions made before the Ld. CIT(A) running from pages 36 to 73 in the Paper Book. The

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