HC Condones Delay in Filing Revised ITR Citing Genuine Hardship Arising from Breast Cancer Treatment

The Bombay High Court accepted the petitioner’s application seeking condonation of delay in filing a revised return for the Assessment Year 2021-22, considering genuine hardship arising from the petitioner’s diagnosis of Breast Cancer during the relevant year. The court holds that the delay was not intentionally made.

The petitioner’s Rohini Randhir Behl application, furnished under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, seeking condonation of delay in filing a revised return for the Assessment Year 2021-22, was rejected by the tax authorities through an order dated March 27, 2025.

The petitioner claimed that the delay was due to genuine hardship caused by the diagnosis of breast cancer on November 30, 2020, under which she underwent extensive treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, at Breach Candy Hospital Trust from December 2020 to September 2021. After taking a recovery period, she filed her initial income tax return (ITR) on November 23, 2021, in which some discrepancies were noted, like misclassification of capital gains and omission of foreign asset disclosures. When she became aware of the same, she immediately sought rectification after recovery.

During the hearing before the court, she submitted her medical certificates and discharge summary annexed as Exhibit C. Analysing the same, the court found that the petitioner is indeed a cancer patient, undergoing treatment of the same, during the relevant period.

Considering the aforementioned findings, the court quashed the impugned order dated March 27, 2025, and condoned the delay in filing the revised return. The tax authorities have been directed to open the ITBA portal within three weeks of receiving the order and allow the petitioner to file a revised return for the Assessment Year 2021-22. The petitioner is permitted to file the revised return at the portal within a further three weeks.