ITO, PANIPAT vs. SH. KARUN KUMAR, PANIPAT

The Revenue has filed this appeal against the order of the CIT (A), Karnal dated 21.9.2016 A.Y. 2009-10.

At the time of hearing the Ld. Counsel for the assessee filed Income Computation form to demonstrate that the tax effect in the appeal filed by Department is only Rs. 7,20,154/- and, thus, less than Rs. 10 lac. The chart is reproduced hereunder:-

From the aforementioned computation, it is evident that the tax effect is less than Rs. 10 lackhs. As per CBDT Circular No.21/2015 dated 10th December 2015, the Revenue has been directed not to prefer any appeal in case the tax effect is less than Rs.10,00,000/- and this factual position has been fairly conceded by the Ld. D.R. The Ld. A.R. contended that the appeal of the Revenue may be dismissed in the light of CBDT Circular (supra).

I have heard parties on the issue in controversy and perused the material on record. Perusal of CBDT Circular (supra) shows that monetary limit for filing the appeal by the Department before the Tribunal, Hon'ble High Court and Hon'ble Supreme Court has been revised and the relevant portion of the aforesaid circular is extracted as under: "3. 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 matters Monetary Limit (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.

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 Pending appeals below the specified tax limits in para 3 above may be withdrawn / not pressed.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."

In view of the CBDT Circular No.21 dated 10.12.2015 having retrospective effect and what has been discussed above, I am of the considered view that the aforesaid appeal is not maintainable because of low tax effect i.e. less than Rs.10,00,000/-. Hence, the aforesaid appeal filed by the Revenue is hereby dismissed having become infructuous.

In the result, the assessee’s appeal is dismissed. Order pronounced in the open court on this 31st day of January, 2017.

Sd/- Sd/- (S.V. MEHROTRA) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER Dated : 31-01-2017. Narender Copy of order to: - 1) The Appellant; 2) The Respondent; 3) The DRP-I, New Delhi; 4) The DR, I.T.A.T., New Delhi; By Order //True Copy// Assistant Registrar ITAT, New Delhi S.No. Details Date Initials Designation 1 Draft dictated on 31.1.2017 Sr. PS/PS 2 Draft placed before author 31.1.2017 Sr. PS/PS Draft proposed & placed before the 3 JM/AM Second Member Draft discussed/approved by Second 4 AM/AM Member 5 Approved Draft comes to the Sr. PS/PS Sr. PS/PS 6 Kept for pronouncement on Sr. PS/PS 7 File sent to Bench Clerk Sr. PS/PS Date on which the file goes to the Head 8 Clerk 9 Date on which file goes to the A.R. 10 Date of Dispatch of order