Rectification of mistake in it appeal form 35

I Yadav (Finance) (34 Points)

10 September 2016  
We are a small IT company. The AO issued a demand order u/s 143(3) for AY 2012-13. The demand order had many mistakes. We raised these mistakes with the AO and CIT, and as a result the demand order was corrected and a revised demand order issued u/s 154. We then filed an appeal with the CIT (Appeals) against the revised demand. In the Form 35 for appeals, there is a column that asks to fill the Section of the order and its date against which the appeal is being filed. This was filled as Section 154 by us (along with the date of the revised order). Now the appeal has come for hearing. The CIT (Appeals) has taken the stand that we should have mentioned Section 143(3) in Form 35 instead of Section 154, and he is is going to reject the appeal on this ground. He is not willing to accept our contention that at best this is just a mistake which does not change any facts of the case, and which can be taken on record and corrected based on a letter we can give to this affect. The appeal rejection order is not yet passed. Our appeal came for hearing after one year. A rejection would mean further delays. Is there any case law where such a mistake has been condoned? After-all there is a mechanism for mistakes made by the IT Department to be corrected u/s 154. How does a tax-payer correct a simple mistake made in Form 35? Grateful for inputs on this from the respected tax experts at CAclubindia.