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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘SMC-I’, NEW DELHI
Before: Sh. N. K. Saini
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH ‘SMC-I’, NEW DELHI Before Sh. N. K. Saini, Accountant Member Asstt. Year : 2011-12 Income Tax Officer (E), Vs M/s Gyan Mandir Society, Ward-1(2), Josip Broz Tito Marg, Sadique Nagar, New Delhi New Delhi-110049 (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) PAN No. AAATG0311N Assessee by : Sh. K. Sampath & V. Raja Kumar, Advs. Revenue by : None Date of Hearing : 16.08.2016 Date of Pronouncement : 16.08.2016 ORDER Per N. K. Saini, AM:
This is an appeal by the department against the order dated 24.02.2015 of ld. CIT(A)-40, New Delhi.
Nobody was present on behalf of the department and an application is moved stating therein that Senior DR is not available. In my opinion, simply stating that Senior DR is not available is not a sufficient reason to seek the adjournment. Therefore, the application moved for adjournment is rejected. The ld. Counsel for the assessee pointed out that tax effect in this appeal is less than Rs.10,00,000/-. Therefore, in view of the CBDT Circular
Gyan Mandir Society No. 21/2015 dated 10.12.2015, the department ought not to have filed the appeal. He also relied on the judgment of the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court in assessee’s own case in ITA 138/2016 order dated 17.02.2016 wherein it was held that the appeal of the department wherein tax effect is less than Rs.20,00,000/- has to be treated as not pressed by the revenue in terms of the CBDT Circular No. 21 of 2015 dated 10.12.2015.
I have considered the submissions of the ld. Counsel for the assessee and perused the material available on the record. In the present case, 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 before the Tribunal. The relevant portion of the said circular reads 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 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/- Gyan Mandir Society 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.
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
Gyan Mandir Society 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, I am of the view that the Revenue should not have filed the instant appeal before the Tribunal.
In view of the above, without going into merits of the case, the appeal filed by the department is dismissed.
In the result, appeal of the department is dismissed. (Order Pronounced in the Court on 16/08/2016)