15. Appeals to the Commissioner (Appeals)
(1) Any person objecting to the amount of interest-tax for which he is assessed by the 2[Assessing] Officer or denying his liability to be assessed under this Act, or objecting to any penalty or fine imposed by the 2[Assessing] Officer, or to the amount allowed by the 2[Assessing] Officer by way of any relief under any provision of this Act, or to any refusal by the 2[Assessing] Officer to grant relief or to an order of rectification having the effect of enhancing the assessment or reducing the refund, or to an order refusing to allow the claim made by the assessee for a rectification under section 17, may appeal to the 1[Commissioner (Appeals)].
3[(2) Every appeal filed on or after the 1st day of October, 1998 shall be in the prescribed form4 and shall be verified in the prescribed manner and shall be accompanied by a fee of two hundred and fifty rupees.]
(3) An appeal shall be presented within thirty days of the following date, that is to say,—
(a) where the appeal relates to assessment or penalty or fine, the date of service of the notice of demand relating to the assessment or penalty or fine, or
(b) in any other case, the date on which the intimation of the order sought to be appealed against is served :
Provided that the 1[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.
(4) The 1[Commissioner (Appeals)] shall hear and determine the appeal and, subject to the provisions of this Act, pass such orders as he thinks fit and such orders may include an order enhancing the assessment or penalty :
Provided that an order enhancing the assessment or penalty shall not be made unless the person affected thereby has been given a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against such enhancement.
(5) The procedure to be adopted in the hearing and determination of the appeals shall, with any necessary modification, be in accordance with the procedure applicable in relation to income-tax.
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1. Substituted for “Appellate Assistant Commissioner” by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1977, w.e.f. 10-7-1978.
2. Substituted for “Income-tax” by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1991, w.e.f. 1-10-1991.
3. Substituted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1998, w.e.f. 1-10-1998. Prior to its substitution it read as under :
“(2) Every appeal shall be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner.”
4. See rule 5 and Form No. 3.
