The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has questioned the Income Tax Department for ignoring relevant documents while rejecting an appeal filed by Mayank Subhash Jain in a tax penalty case. A Division Bench of Justice Anil L Pansare and Justice Nivedita P Mehta was hearing Jain’s petition against the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax-1, Nagpur, and other officials. The dispute relates to a penalty imposed under Section 270A of the Income Tax Act. Jain claimed that he came to know about the penalty order on February 1, 2023, after receiving a phone call from the department.

 

He filed an appeal on February 9, 2023. On October 15, 2026, the appellate authority rejected the appeal, stating that Jain had failed to justify the delay of 353 days. However, Jain’s counsel told the court that the department had registered the appeal and, on February 8, 2024, asked him to submit written arguments and supporting documents. He argued that this showed the delay had been condoned and the appeal was being considered. The court noted that the appellate authority had ignored these documents and a previous High Court judgment dealing with a similar issue. It also observed that the authority had not addressed Jain’s claim that hearings were held on several occasions but no final order was passed. The Bench directed the department to explain why the relevant documents were ignored and to identify the official who took the decision. It also asked the department to submit the record of proceedings. The matter will be heard next week. Adv Kapil Hirani represented the petitioner while Adv Bhushan Mohata, Advocate for respondents.