On writ  allowing the petitions the Court held  that the eligibility condition in the circular issued under section 119(2)(b) should be read as March 31, 2021 and not as January 31, 2021 since the Finance Act, 2021 ([2021] 432 ITR (St.) 52) was notified with effect from April 1, 2021 and therefore the eligibility of the assessee to file the application for the settlement had to be considered from immediately preceding date. The order passed by the Interim Board for Settlement holding the applications filed by the assessee was invalid was not sustainable in view of the decisions of the Madras and Bombay High Courts and reading down the eligibility conditions would be applicable PAN India.  That the applications filed by the assessees between February 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021 shall be deemed to be the pending applications and should be applications for the purpose of consideration by the Interim Board for Settlement considering the last date of eligibility mentioned in para 4(i) of the circular dated September 28, 2021 ([2021] 438 ITR (St.) 5) should be read as March 31, 2021 by reading down the last date February 1, 2021 as March 31, 2021 in section 245C(5) as amended by the Finance Act, 2021 ([2021] 432 ITR (St.) 52). The orders of the Interim Board for Settlement were therefore set aside and the applications filed by the assessees should be deemed to be pending applications for consideration by the Interim Board, if otherwise, in order and eligible and should be dealt with in accordance with law on the merits and in accordance with the scheme that would be framed by the Central Government as in respect of the other cases which were pending as on January 31, 2021. Consequential actions to the orders passed by the Interim Board if any taken by the Assessing Officer were quashed and set aside. The matter was remanded back to the Interim Board for Settlement for deciding the applications filed by the assessees on the merits.(AY. 2010-11, 2013-14, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2020-21)