Priority/out of turn disposal of appeals by CIT(A) Assessment Units and Additional Joint CIT(Appeals)

[Vivek Jalan]

A reference from the Prime Minister’s Office or a VIP reference will help an Income Tax Appeal to be taken up on priority or out of turn disposal, CBDT has said in its new guidelines no. F. No. 279/Misc./M-102/2021-ITJ. Hopefully this reference will be due to a matter of National Importance. The new guidelines, will replace the 2021 mechanism. The 2021 guidelines also prescribed five situations, out of those, four have been retained while a refund of ₹1 lakh has been replaced.

The CBDT on 28th May 2023 had notified e-Appeals Scheme 2023 in respect of disposal of appeals by Joint Commissioner (Appeals). The section 246 of the Income Tax Act 1961 was also amended by the Finance Act 2023 for making provision for creation of the post JCIT(Appeals).

On a Writ Petition/PIL being filed before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court with prayers to formulate a policy and to make clear guidelines for the Commissioner Appeals to dispose off the appeals in a chronological manner, the Delhi High Court on the basis of affidavit and Central Action Plan (CAP) of CBDT 2022-23 and 2023-24 was satisfied that the road map drawn up by the CBDT adequately addressed the concerns raised and as such no directions were issued. Now The CBDT, to ensure priority/out of turn disposal of pending appeals at the level of CIT(A/AU) and Addl./Jt.CIT(Appeals), has decided that requests for such disposal of appeals, covering genuine and exceptional circumstances, raised at the instance of the appellant or referred to by the Assessing Officer/Range Head, may be considered by the Pr.CCsIT/CCsIT/DGsIT on the basis of recommendations of jurisdictional Pr.CIT/Pr.CIT(Central)/CIT(IT). The request for such disposal of appeals, covering genuine and exceptional circumstances raised at the instance of the applicant or referred to by the Assessing Officer/Rang Head, may be considered by the Pr.CCsIT/CCsIT/DGsIT based on recommendations of jurisdictional Pr. CIT/Pr.CIT(Central)/CIT(IT), in the following situations:

• Cases having demand over Rs. 1 crore; or
• Cases where a VIP/PMO reference is received for expeditious disposal or
• Cases where directions to this effect have been issued by the Courts or
• Cases where the request is made by Senior Citizens and/or Super Senior Citizens or
• Any other case of genuine hardship.

Disposal of appeals have been the key focus of the appeal, as huge amounts of money demanded involved in cases pending before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeal). For example, earlier last year, Finance Ministry informed the Lok Sabha that over ₹14 lakh crore amount locked up in appeals at the end of Fiscal Year 2021-22. Similarly, Central Action Plan for FY24 mentioned while closing number of appeals at the end of FY23 was over 5.16 lakh, approximate pendency in respect of appeals filed prior to April 1, 2020, as on March 31, 2023 was over 2.82 lakhs.