Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax – 1 v. M/s Agroha Fincap Ltd. (ITA 60/2024) – High Court of Delhi, Judgment dated 23rd December 2025

In this case, the assessee contended that although CBDT Circular No. 5/2024 dated 15 March 2024 enhanced the monetary limits for filing appeals before the ITAT, High Courts, and the Supreme Court, the exceptions carved out under the said Circular could not be invoked by the Department to justify the maintainability of an appeal that had been filed prior to 15 March 2024, when such exceptions were not expressly in force.

However, the Department argued that, just as the revised monetary limits apply to pending appeals, the exceptions introduced by Circular No. 5/2024 are also applicable to all appeals that were pending as on the date of issuance of the Circular. The Hon’ble High Court accepted this submission and held that there was no justification to confine the applicability of the exceptions only to appeals filed after 15 March 2024.

The Court observed that the Circular was intended to regulate not only future litigation but also the treatment of pending cases. The Hon’ble High Court further noted that, in this case, both the Assessing Officer and the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) had returned clear and concurrent findings regarding the presence of accommodation entries. These findings, in this case, brought the matter squarely within exception (h) of Clause 3.1 of Circular No. 5/2024.

Consequently, the monetary limits prescribed under the Circular did not operate as a bar to the Department’s appeal. Accordingly, the Hon’ble High Court held that even though the appeal had been filed prior to the issuance of Circular No. 5/2024, it was nevertheless maintainable in view of the applicable exception. On this basis, the review petition filed by the assessee was dismissed.