Form of appeal and limitation.
249. (1) Every appeal
under this Chapter shall be in the prescribed form 64 and shall be verified in
the prescribed manner 65[and shall, in case of
an appeal made to the Commissioner (Appeals) on or after the 1st day of
October, 1998, irrespective of the date of initiation of the assessment
proceedings relating thereto be accompanied by a fee of,—
(i) where the total income of the assessee as computed
by the Assessing Officer in the case to which the appeal relates is one hundred
thousand rupees or less, two hundred fifty rupees;
(ii) where the total income of the assessee,
computed as aforesaid, in the case to which the appeal relates is more than one
hundred thousand rupees but not more than two hundred thousand rupees, five
hundred rupees;
(iii) where the total income of the assessee,
computed as aforesaid, in the case to which the appeal relates is more than two
hundred thousand rupees, one thousand rupees;]
66[(iv) where
the subject matter of an appeal is not covered under clauses (i), (ii)
and (iii), two hundred fifty
rupees.]
(2) The appeal shall be
presented within thirty days of the following date, that is to say,—
67[(a) where
the appeal is under section 248, the date of
payment of the tax, or]
(b) where the appeal relates to any assessment or
penalty, the date of service of the notice of demand relating to the assessment
or penalty:
68[Provided that, where an application has been made under section 146 for reopening an assessment, the period
from the date on which the application is made to the date on which the order
passed on the application is served on the assessee shall be excluded, or]
(c) in any other case, the date on which
intimation of the order sought to be appealed against is served.
69[(2A) Notwithstanding
anything contained in sub-section (2), where an order has been made under section 201 on or after the 1st day of October, 1998
but before the 1st day of June, 2000 and the assessee in default has not
presented any appeal within the time specified in that sub-section, he may
present such appeal before the 1st day of July, 2000.]
(3) The 70[***] 71[Commissioner (Appeals)]
may admit an appeal after the expiration of the said period if he is satisfied
that the appellant had sufficient cause for not presenting it within that
period.
72[(4) No appeal under
this Chapter shall be admitted unless at the time of filing of the appeal,—
(a) where a return has been filed by the assessee,
the assessee has paid the tax due on the income returned by him; or
(b) where no return has been filed by the
assessee, the assessee has paid an amount equal to the amount of advance tax
which was payable by him:
Provided that, 73[in a case falling under
clause (b) and] on an application
made by the appellant in this behalf, the 74[* * *] 75[Commissioner (Appeals)] may,
for any good and sufficient reason to be recorded in writing, exempt him from
the operation of the provisions of 76[that clause].]