The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Delhi Bench “E” pronounced its judgment on the appeal filed by ITO Ward – 28(4), New Delhi against Renu Gupta, New Delhi. The case was heard by Shri H.S. Sidhu, Judicial Member, and Shri Prashant Maharishi, Accountant Member.
The appellant, ITO Ward – 28(4), New Delhi, filed an appeal for the assessment year 2015-16 against the order of the CIT(A)-37, New Delhi. The appeal was registered as ITA No.5155/Del/2019. The respondent, Renu Gupta, residing in New Delhi, was involved in a tax dispute with the Income Tax Department.
At the outset of the hearing, the representative of the appellant brought to the Tribunal’s attention that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had issued Circular No. 17/2019 dated 08th August 2019. This circular directed that the revenue would not prefer any appeal before the Tribunal if the tax effect was less than Rs. 50 lakhs.
The Departmental Representative (DR) objected, arguing that the circular applied prospectively and not to pending appeals. However, the Tribunal noted that the circular was applicable to all pending appeals as well.
The Tribunal reviewed the CBDT Circular No. 17/2019, which enhanced the monetary limit for filing appeals to Rs. 50 lakhs for the Tribunal, Rs. 1 crore for the High Court, and Rs. 2 crores for the Supreme Court. The circular aimed to reduce litigation and manage cases with significant tax impacts more effectively.
The Tribunal found that the tax effect involved in the appeal was below Rs. 50 lakhs. Following the CBDT instructions, the Tribunal concluded that the Department should have withdrawn or not pressed the present appeal. The Tribunal cited the case of Dinesh Madhavlal Patel [TS-469-ITAT-2019(Ahd)] 2019-TIOL-1556-ITAT-AHM, which held that the circular applied to all pending appeals.
In view of the above, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal filed by the Department due to the low tax effect. The Tribunal also provided the Department with the liberty to file a miscellaneous application if any instances as stated in paragraph 10 of the CBDT Circular No. 3/2018 dated 11.07.2018 came to their notice.
Order pronounced in the open court on 30th September 2019.
sd/- (H.S. SIDHU) JUDICIAL MEMBER
sd/- (PRASHANT MAHARISHI) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
Date: 30/09/2019
A K Keot
Copy forwarded to:
ASSISTANT REGISTRAR, ITAT, New Delhi
Manage the increasing number of hearings effortlessly by leveraging the legal AI revolution We are India's Leading revolutionary AI-powered legal platform where you can get enough insights into top cases and judgements.
Research Platform