The assessee’s return of income was rejected as invalid on the ground that it was not accompanied by a Tax Audit Report, though admittedly the assessee was not required to furnish the same. The defect arose solely due to an inadvertent clerical error whereby the assessee had wrongly ticked “No” instead of “Yes” in the audit information column relating to cash receipts and payments, despite cash receipts being nil and cash payments not exceeding the prescribed limit. The Court held that the entire controversy arose on account of checking an incorrect box in the return, which had no bearing on computation or assessment of income, and since no statutory appeal was available against rejection of the return as invalid, the assessee had established genuine hardship within the meaning of section 119(2)(b). Accordingly, the impugned order was set aside and the assessee was permitted to file a revised return limited to curing the defect, which was directed to be considered without being influenced by delay. (AY. 2022-23).