Submission of reports to Income Tax Settlement Commission - Income Tax - F. No. 299/130/2013-IT(Inv.III)/1329

F. No. 299/130/2013-IT(Inv.III)/1329 Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Direct Taxes E-2, ARA Centre, Ground Floor, Jhandewalan Extension, New Delhi. Dated : 13th December, 2013. To All Directors General of Income Tax(lnv.), All Chief Commissioners of Income Tax(Central), All Chief Commissioners of Income Tax(CCA), Sub : Submission of reports to Income Tax Settlement Commission - Reg. Sir/Madam, During the Annual Conference of Income Tax Settlement Commission(ITSC) held on 5th and 6th December, 2013 at Civic Centre, New Delhi, it has been brought to notice of CBDT by the Chairman, ITSC, that :- i) Frequent adjournments are being sought by the deptt. [CslT/CslT(DR)]; ii) Seized material or other relevant records are not made available; iii) CsIT having jurisdiction over the cases are not submitting various reports under their name and signature. In some of the cases, such reports are either being submitted by the Assessing Officers directly to the ITSC or are being submitted to the concerned Range Joint/Addl.CIT for forwarding to the office of the jurisdictional CIT, and thereafter, the said reports are being forwarded by the ITO(Hq) concerned to the ITSC, Rules of ITSC(Procedure) Rules, 1997, prescribe submission of reports to the ITSC by the CIT concerned only. : iv) Assessing Officers are asking for enquiries u/s 245D(3) of the I.T. Act without specifying the issues involved and also without even submitting report under Rule 9; and v) Rule 9 reports are not being submitted in time. 2. In view of the above, I am directed to request you to: i) Issue appropriate instructions to the jurisdictional CslT/CslT(DR) not to seek adjournments of the cases coming up for hearing before the ITSC except in extra ordinary circumstances and that too with prior intimation to the CCIT concerned. ii) Specific references should be made, wherever applicable, to the seized material or other relevant records in the reports submitted to the ITSC and such reports should be produced as and when the ITSC asks for the same or the CIT(DR) concerned desires to place reliance on such material/record. iii) Various reports submitted to the ITSC including Rule 6, Rule 7 and Rule 9 reports should invariably be submitted under the name and signature of the jurisdictional CsIT only and the practice of merely forwarding the report of lower authorities should be stopped. iv) Enquiries u/s 245D(3) of the I.T. Act should be asked for on specific issues. v) The jurisdictional CsIT should ensure that Rule 9 reports are submitted in time i.e. within forty-five days of the receipt of the information contained in the annexure and the statements and other documents accompanying such annexure to the settlement application or within such extended period as may be allowed by the ITSC on a request made by the jurisdictional CIT. Such report should not be delayed on the ground of pendency of consideration of enquiry u/s 245D(3). 3. The undersigned is directed to request you to get these guidelines circulated amongst all CsIT and CslT(DR) working under your Region for compliance, Yours faithfully, (S. L Anuragi) Under Secretary (Inv.-lll) Tel : 011-2351940