ITAT dismisses Assessee's plea to condone 2984 days delay in filing of appeal, rejects 'Improper Advice' given by CA Firm as ground for Condonation / "Sufficient Delay";

Tribunal taken aback by CA Firm's Affidavit, stating that it had advised Assessee not to file an appeal with ITAT on same issue for later AYs and rather file a 'Rectification or Review' plea with AO once Tribunal settled the issue;

"Inconceivable that a C.A would have advised the assessee to wait for outcome of a past appeal to decide about the course of action to be taken for the years under consideration", observe Tribunal members;

Such advise by a CA badly damages prestige and reputation enjoyed by CA profession, urges ICAI to take strict disciplinary action and immediate steps to stem the "Deteriorating Standards" & "Alarming Practices" among some CAs;

Criticises ICAI for allowing CA coaching classes to "Mushroom", consequently leading to 'Manufacturing' of Chartered Accountants and replacement of analytical thinking by 'spoonfeeding';

Expresses doubts over efficacy of CPE seminars, if such advices are given by CAs attending them; Rejects affidavits given by both the CA firm & assessee, remarks that conduct of assessee beyond comprehension of "human conduct and probabilities" : Mumbai ITAT

The ruling was delivered by ITAT bench of Shri. D. Manmohan and Shri.B.R.Baskaran

[TS-548-ITAT-2014(Mum)].