Collegium to withdraw appeals to reduce litigation in HC: CBDT

In a bid to reduce tax litigations, the Revenue Department has asked the collegium of senior I-T officials to consider withdrawal of appeals which are no longer prosecutable in the High Courts.
ITATs and High Courts have adversely commented on the filing of frivolous appeals by the I-T department, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in an office order.
Courts have time and again noted that appeals are filed even where no substantial question of law exists, it said.
"It has now been decided to extend this collegium system to also consider withdrawal of appeals from the High Courts where the same are no longer considered prosecutable.

"The collegium system existing in multi-CCsIT stations would be responsible for reviewing all appeals pending before the High Courts relating to the jurisdictional CCIT," the CBDT order said.
A collegium of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax was put into place through an office order in November 2014 to approve filing of appeals before High Courts in multi-CCsIT (Chief Commissioners of IT).

In a recent decision, the Bombay High Court observed that the manner in which "the appeal" has been filed and prosecuted was casual and callous.
It was pointed out that out of 4,784 appeals filed from the orders of the Tribunal in the Court during January 1 to June 1, 2014, the appeals filed by the revenue was 3,968 and 816 by the class of assessee as a whole.

It was suggested "to provide an inhouse committee of senior officers of the Revenue to review decision taken in respect of appeals already filed and pending", CBDT said.
Amit Maheshwari, Partner, Ashok Maheshwary and Associates said it is a good step and will further reduce litigation.
"This along with other steps will bring down litigation significantly. As pointed out government is one of the biggest litigators and if litigation has to be bought down then tax department has to be more pragmatic," he said.
The order further said it would be the responsibility of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (PCIT) concerned to draw up a list of pending appeals in his charge and present cases for review to the collegium.

In a bid to reduce tax litigation by about 50 per cent, the Finance Ministry today raised the monetary limit for filing appeals to Rs 10 lakh in appellate tribunal, and Rs 20 lakh in High Courts.