Joint Commissioner Of Income Tax vs Tractors And Farm Equipments Ltd. on 25 August, 2006
2. In this case, admittedly, there is a delay of 310 days in filing the appeal. The assessee filed an affidavit explaining the reasons and prayed for condonation of delay. The reason stated by the assessee is misplacement of papers with some other papers. Therefore, we have to consider whether the misplacement of papers with some other papers is sufficient cause for condoning the delay. The Madras High Court considered an identical issue in the case of Sreenivas Charitable Trust v. Dy. CIT and held that mixing up of papers with other papers are sufficient cause for not filing the appeal in time. The Madras High Court further observed that the expression "sufficient cause" should be interpreted to advance substantial justice. Therefore, advancement of substantial justice is the prime factor while considering the reasons for condoning the delay. In this case on our hand, the issue arises for consideration on merit is regarding inclusion of excise duty and sales-tax in the total turnover for the purpose of computing deduction under Section 80HHC.