A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court has held that the circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) wherein the Board prescribed the monetary limit for filing appeals by the Revenue has retrospective effect and hence, it is applicable to all the pending appeals and appeals to be filed in High Courts/Tribunals, subject to exceptions.
While dismissing the departmental appeal in view of the circular, a bench of Justices K S Jhaveri and Vijayakumar Vyas noted that “taking note of the CBDT Circular dt. 10/12/2015 and the tax effect which indisputably in the instant case is less than Rs.20 lac, much less than what has been prescribed for filing appeals before the High Courts, deserves to be dismissed as not pressed. However, it is made clear that the substantial questions of law raised in the instant appeal, if any, are left open to be examined in an appropriate proceeding, if arises in future. At the same time we consider it appropriate to observe that if the appeal falls in any of the exceptions as referred to in the Circular dt. 10/12/2015, the Revenue will be at liberty to move an application for recalling of the order if so advised.”
The Board, in the year 2015, has issued the above circular for regularising the monetary limits for filing the appeal by the Revenue before the Tribunal, High Courts and Apex Court with an object for reducing litigation.
Read the full text of the Judgment below.
