CBDT constitutes 2 committees of to suggest better litigation management

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has constituted two new committees of its officers to suggest ways for better litigation management in the Income Tax Department and also to examine the best global practices in this domain.

The first committee, headed by an officer of the Commissioner of I-T-rank, has been given a four-point agenda or the 'terms of reference' to suggest ways to reduce and streamline litigation issues facing the department.

The five-member committee has been asked to submit its report to the CBDT, that frames policy for the tax department, within a month.

A senior official said the panels have been formed after a conference on legal issues between the CBDT brass and tax officials in January.

As per the terms of reference accessed by the PTI, the committee will examine "suggestions/issues on litigation management emerging out of the conference and to report on the solutions and the way forward on such issues".

It will also examine cases where the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has "passed perverse or irregular orders" or where the submissions of department representatives (DRs) have not been recorded by ITAT, and to be appropriately taken up with President of ITAT and the Law Ministry.

The committee, as per the CBDT order, will also look into the "feasibility" of creation of separate benches of the ITAT for international taxation cases, at places where the pendency of such cases is high/above a threshold limit and analyse if the posts of junior DRs could be revived in view of "shortage" of DRs in the ITATs.

The second committee, that will have four members headed by a Commissioner-rank officer, will "examine how the international good practices on tax disputes and the diagnostic tool could be used for tax litigation management."