Loading judgment…
No AI summary yet for this case.
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘C’, NEW DELHI
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH ‘C’, NEW DELHI Before Sh. N. K. Saini, AM and Sh. K. N. Chary, JM Asstt. Year : 2010-11 Income Tax Officer, Vs Harish Chandra Batra, Ward-1(3), 158/14, Officers Enclave, Kochhar Dehradun-248001 Colony, Rajpur Road, Dehradun-248001 (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) CO No. 281/Del/2015 : Asstt. Year : 2010-11 Harish Chandra Batra, Vs Income Tax Officer, 158/14, Officers Enclave, Kochhar Ward-1(3), Colony, Rajpur Road, Dehradun-248001 Dehradun-248001 (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) PAN No. AJAPB6071D Assessee by : Sh. Kapil Goyal, Adv. Revenue by : Sh. Arun Kumar Yadav, Sr. DR Date of Hearing : 18.12.2017 Date of Pronouncement : 18.12.2017 ORDER Per N. K. Saini, AM:
The appeal filed by the department and Cross Objection by the assessee are directed against the order dated 10.10.2014 of ld. CIT(A)-I, Dehradun.
During the course of hearing, the Learned counsel for the assessee at the very outset stated that the tax effect in CO No. 281/Del/2015 Harish Chandra Batra this appeal is less than Rs.10,00,000/-, therefore, the department ought not to have filed this appeal in view of the circular issued by the CBDT and the provisions contained in Section 268A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter to be referred as the Act).
3. On the other hand, the ld. D.R., although supported the order of the Assessing Officer, but could not controvert this fact that tax effect in this appeal is less than Rs.10,00,000/-.
After considering the submissions of both the parties and the material available on record, it is noticed that Section 268A has been inserted by the Finance Act, 2008 with retrospective effect from 01/04/99. The said section 268 of the Act provides that the Board may issue instruction or directions to the other income-tax authorities fixing monetary limits for not filing the appeals before the Appellate Tribunal or the Courts, said instructions/directions are binding on the income tax authorities.
It is noticed that the CBDT has issued Circular No.21 of 2015 dated 10.12.2015, vide which it has revised the monetary limit to Rs.10,00,000/- for not filing the appeal CO No. 281/Del/2015 Harish Chandra Batra before the Tribunal. The relevant portion of the said circular reads as under: “…………………….. ……………………...
Henceforth, appeals/ SLPs shall not be filed in cases where the tax effect does not exceed the monetary limits given hereunder: S. No Appeals in Income-tax matter Monetary Limit (in Rs) 1 Before Appellate Tribunal 10,00,000/- 2 Before High Court 20,00,000/- 3 Before Supreme Court 25,00,000/- It is clarified that an appeal should not be filed merely because the tax effect in a case exceeds the monetary limits prescribed above. Filing of appeal in such cases is to be decided on merits of the case. ………………………… ………………………… 9. The monetary limits specified in para 3 above shall not apply to writ matters and direct tax matters other than Income tax. Filing of appeals in other Direct tax matters shall continue to be governed by relevant provisions of statute & rules. Further, filing of appeal in cases of Income Tax, where the tax effect is not quantifiable or not involved, such as the case of registration of trusts or institutions under section 12A of the IT Act, 1961, shall not be governed by the limits specified in para 3 above and decision to file appeal in such cases may be taken on merits of a particular case.
CO No. 281/Del/2015 Harish Chandra Batra 10. This instruction will apply retrospectively to pending appeals and appeals to be filed henceforth in High Courts/ Tribunals. Pending appeals below the specified tax limits in para 3 above may be withdrawn/ not pressed. Appeals before the Supreme Court will be governed by the instructions on this subject, operative at the time when such appeal was filed.”
From Clause 10 of the above said circular it is clear that these instructions are applicable to the pending appeals also and as per clause 3, there is clear cut instruction to the department to withdraw or not to press the appeals filed before the ITAT wherein tax effect is less than Rs.10,00,000/-. These instructions are operative retrospectively to the pending appeals.
Keeping in view the CBDT Circular No.21 of 2015 dated 10.12.2015 and also the provisions of Section 268A of Income Tax Act, 1961, we are of the view that the Revenue should not have filed the instant appeal before the Tribunal.
As regards to the Cross Objection filed by the assessee is concerned, since we have already dismissed the appeal of the revenue as aforesaid, on account of low tax effect. Therefore, the Cross Objection filed by the assessee has become infructuous and dismissed.
CO No. 281/Del/2015 Harish Chandra Batra 9. In the result, the appeal of the department and Cross Objection of the assessee are dismissed. (Order Pronounced in the Court on 18/12/2017)