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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘B’ BENCH : CHENNAI
Before: SHRI GEORGE MATHAN & SHRI S.JAYARAMAN
आदेश / O R D E R
PER BENCH
These appeals are filed by the Revenue against the consolidated order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)- 2, Chennai in appeal Nos.81,70,82 & 231/2016-17, dated 31.12.2018, for the assessment years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 to 802/Chny/2019 :- 2 -: Dr.R.Gunaseelan & 2014-15 and most importantly, the tax effect involved in all these four appeals does not exceed Rs.50,00,000/-.
Mr.Sunderarajan represented on behalf of the Revenue and Mr.B.Ramakrishnan, represented on behalf of the assessee.
Vide CBDT circular No.17/2019 in F.No.279/Misc.142/2007- ITJ(Pt) dated 8th August, 2019, the income tax department has further liberalized its policy for not filing appeals against the decisions of the appellate authorities in favour of the taxpayers, wherein tax involved is below certain threshold limits, and announced its policy decision not to file, or press, the appeals, before this Tribunal, against the appellate orders favourable to the assessee in the cases in which overall tax effect, excluding interest except when interest itself is in dispute, is Rs 50,00,000 or less.
3.1 In view of the above factual background and the concession by this CBDT circular, all these four appeals must be dismissed as withdrawn.
This circular, only enhances the monetary limits and gives further relaxation. The old circular, beyond any dispute or controversy, categorically applied to the pending appeals as on the date of issuance of circular. The circular dated 8th August 2019 is not a standalone 5. circular. It is to be read in conjunction with the CBDT circular No. 3/2018 (and subsequent amendment thereto), and all it does is to replace paragraph nos. 3 and 5 of the said circular. This is evident to 802/Chny/2019 :- 3 -: Dr.R.Gunaseelan from the following extracts from the circular dated 8th August 2019:
“2. As a step towards further management of litigation, it has been decided by the Board that monetary limits for filing of appeals in income- tax cases be enhanced further through amendment in Para 3 of the Circular mentioned above and accordingly, the table for monetary limits specified in Para 3 of the Circular shall read as follows:
S.No. Appeals/SLPs in Income-tax matters Monetary Limit (₹.) 1 Before Appellate Tribunal 50,00,000 2 Before High Court 1,00,00,000 3 Before Supreme Court 2,00,00,000
3. Further, with a view to provide parity in filing of appeals in scenarios where separate order is passed by higher appellate authorities for each assessment year vis-a-vis where composite order for more than one assessment years is passed. para 5 of the circular is substituted by the following para:
“5. The Assessing Officer shall calculate the tax effect separately for every assessment year in respect of the disputed issues in the case of everyassessee. If in the case of an assessee, the disputed issues arise in more than one assessment year, appeal can be filed in respect of such assessment year or years in which the tax effect in respect of the disputed issues exceeds the monetary limit specified in para 3. No appeal shall be filed in respect of an assessment year or years in which the tax effect is less than the monetary limit specified in para-3. Further, even in the case of composite order of any High Court or appellate authority which involves more than one assessment year and common issues in more than one assessment year no appeal shall be filed in respect of an assessment year or years in which the tax effect is less than the monetary limit specified in para 3. In case where a composite order/ judgement involves more than one assessee, each assessee shall be dealt with separately”
4. The said modifications shall come into effect from the date of issue of this Circular.”
Clearly, all other portions of the circular no. 3 of 2018 (supra) have remained intact. The portion which has remained intact includes paragraph 13 of the aforesaid circular which is as follows:
“13. This Circular will apply to SLPs/ appeals/ cross objections/ references to be filed henceforth in SC/HCs/Tribunal and it shall also apply retrospectively to pending SLPs/ appeals/ cross to 802/Chny/2019 :- 4 -: Dr.R.Gunaseelan objections/references. Pending appeals below the specified tax limits in pare 3 above may be withdrawn/ not pressed.”
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of The Commissioner of Income Tax-5, New Delhi Vs. Keshav Power Ltd., in SLP No.21497/2019 dated 16.08.2019 reported in 2019(8)TMI 811(SC) has also applied the Circular No.17/2019 dated 08.08.2019 has dismissed the appeal holding as follows:
“Since the tax effect involved in the matter is less than Rs.2/- crores, going by the latest circular issued by the CBDT, we see no reason to interfere in this matter. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed, leaving all the questions of law open”.
Learned Commissioner (DR) submits liberty may kindly be given to point out, upon necessary further verifications, and to seek recall the dismissal of appeals and restoration of the appeals in the cases (i) in which it can be demonstrated that the appeals are covered by the exceptions, and (ii) which are inadvertently included in this bunch of appeals, wherein the tax effect, in terms of the CBDT circular (supra), exceeds ₹. 50,00,000. None opposes this prayer; we accept the same. We make it clear that the appellants shall be at liberty to point out the cases which are wrongly included in the appeals so summarily dismissed by filing he necessary application either owing to wrong computation of tax effect or owning to such cases being covered by the permissible exceptions. to 802/Chny/2019 :- 5 -: Dr.R.Gunaseelan
In the circumstances, respectfully following the principles laid down by the Hon”ble Supreme Court in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax-5,New Delhi Vs. Keshav Power Ltd., referred to supra and in the light of the above discussions, all the four appeals filed by the Revenue are found to be non-maintainable.
In the result, all the four appeals filed by the Revenue for the assessment years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 & 2014-15 are dismissed.
Order pronounced in the open court after conclusion of hearing on 13th May, 2020, at Chennai.