The Kolkata bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has dismissed an appeal filed by the revenue, i.e. the Income Tax Department, challenging the order of the Bangalore bench of the ITAT. It was held that the President of the ITAT does not have the power to transfer appeals from one Bench of the ITAT to another. The power to transfer appeals is vested with the respective Benches of the Tribunal.
The assessee, M/s. K.K. Patel Finance Ltd has jurisdiction in Indore. The Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax passed assessment orders, indicating jurisdiction. The parties discussed appellate jurisdiction between the ITAT and the High Court based on the Assessing Officer’s location. The assessee’s counsel requested the appeals be transferred to the ITAT Indore Bench for adjudication.
The Revenue argued that the CIT(A)’s order for the 2009-10 Assessment Year should be challenged before the ITAT Indore Bench based upon the Supreme Court’s judgment in Principal Commissioner of Income-tax vs. ABC Papers Ltd., which emphasized the appellate jurisdiction of the Tribunal based on the Assessing Officer’s geographical area.
The Revenue contended that transferring the appeal to the Indore Bench would ensure consistency in decisions and follow the legal principles established by the Supreme Court.
The assessee argued that appeals should be transferred to the ITAT Indore Bench due to jurisdictional connection and cited the Bombay High Court’s judgment in MSPL Limited vs. PCIT, which emphasized the President’s power to transfer appeals within the same headquarters and further argued ITAT proceedings are judicial, and transferring live appeals would interfere, seeking fair, impartial adjudication.
The tribunal observed that the power to transfer appeals is vested with the respective Benches of the ITAT, and not with the President of the ITAT and the transfer of appeals from the Kolkata Bench to the Indore Bench was not in the interests of justice, as it would have caused inconvenience to the assessee.
The Two Member Bench comprising Dr. Manish Borad (Accountant Member), and Rajpal Yadav (Vice President) ruled that appeals cannot be maintainable before the ITAT Kolkata Bench and dismissed the appeals for statistical purposes and also advised both parties to pursue them before 2 months at the ITAT Indore Bench and held that the period of limitation at Kolkata benches will be excluded from the limitation period.
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