2024 (7) TMI 1294 - SCH - Income Tax

Delay filling appeal before Supreme court - Revision u/s 263 set aside by ITAT confirmed by HC 2022 (11) TMI 1448 - CALCUTTA HIGH COURT - HELD THAT - There is gross delay of 484 days in filing the Special Leave Petition. The explanation offered for seeking condonation of delay is not satisfactory and therefore, not sufficient in law to be condoned. Consequently, the application seeking condonation of delay is dismissed. Department has been consistently filing Special Leave Petitions before this Court even when there is gross delay of hundreds of days. It appears that there is no immediate attention bestowed on the cases so as to seek urgent relief and possibly, despite enormous delay, the Special Leave Petitions have been filed only to seek an imprimatur of this Court in the cases. We do not appreciate this practice of the Department in doing so. It is necessary that the Department takes into consideration only those cases which are fit enough and have merit to be filed before this Court expeditiously and does not make it a habit to assail almost every order or judgment which is otherwise correct in law and facts and file Special Leave Petitions belatedly. This Special Leave Petition is dismissed on the ground of delay.

Summary

The Supreme Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition due to a gross delay of 484 days in filing it. The explanation for seeking condonation of delay was found unsatisfactory. The Court criticized the petitioner-Department for consistently filing such petitions with significant delays, urging them to be more selective and file only meritorious cases promptly.