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1. Determination of whether the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner declining to extend the time of limitation and dismissing the appeals as time-barred is appealable under Section 30 or Section 31 of the Income-tax Act. Analysis: The judgment involves a reference under Section 66(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Bombay, regarding the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner declining to condone the delay and rejecting the appeals as time-barred. The primary question is whether this order falls under Section 30 or Section 31 of the Act, which determines its appealability. The Tribunal referred only one question for decision, focusing on the appealability of the order. The petitioners sought to include all seven questions initially raised, but the Tribunal limited the reference to the essential question at hand. The case revolved around three appeals filed by the petitioners against orders of the Income-tax Officer, which were delayed due to address issues. The appeals reached the Appellate Assistant Commissioner after the prescribed time, leading to their dismissal as time-barred. The Tribunal's view was that the appeals were dismissed under Section 30, making them non-appealable. The critical issue was whether the order was under Section 30, dealing with filing and admission of appeals, or Section 31, which allows appeals on merits after resolving preliminary defects like limitation. The judgment extensively analyzed the provisions of Section 30 and Section 31 of the Income-tax Act to determine the nature of the order in question. It highlighted that an appeal can only be formally admitted if the Appellate Assistant Commissioner is satisfied with the cause for delay. In this case, as the limitation was not extended, the appeal was not formally admitted, and the date of hearing was solely to decide on the time extension. The judgment referred to precedents to support the distinction between appealable orders under Section 31 and non-appealable orders under Section 30. The judgment discussed relevant case laws, such as Maharani Gyan Manjari Kuari v. Commissioner of Income-tax and Ramanarayana Das Madanlal v. Commissioner of Income-tax, to distinguish cases where appeals were dismissed on preliminary grounds from those dismissed as time-barred. It also cited cases like Shivnath Prasad v. Commissioner of Income-tax and Commissioner of Income-tax v. Mysore Iron and Steel Works to support the non-appealability of orders dismissing delayed appeals. The judgment emphasized that the mere issuance of a notice for a hearing does not imply formal admission of the appeal without time extension. In conclusion, the judgment held that the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was under Section 30(2) of the Act and not under Section 31, making it non-appealable. The decision addressed the primary question, rendering the other questions raised in the application as corollaries to the main issue. The judgment dismissed the petition without costs, with the concurrence of Weston, C.J. This detailed analysis of the judgment clarifies the legal intricacies involved in determining the appealability of orders under different sections of the Income-tax Act, providing a comprehensive understanding of the decision rendered by the Punjab High Court.
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