A Single Bench of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has allowed to grant deposit orders of lesser amount than 20% in pending appeal as the office memorandums issued by Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) would not operate as a fetter on commissioner as it is a quasi-judicial authority.
The present writ petition has been filed by PUNATHIL NISHRIYA impugning order dated 20.07.2023 and seeking a direction to the 1st respondent to reconsider stay application. A writ of mandamus was also sought for respondent Nos. 2 and 3 to consider and dispose of statutory appeal expeditiously within a time frame to be fixed by this Court.
G.Keerthivas, appeared on behalf of the assessee/
A Single Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh noted the decision in Principal Commissioner of Income Tax v. LG Electronics India Private Limited by the the Apex Court that,
“Having heard Vikramjit Banerjee, ASG appearing on behalf of the appellant, and giving credence to the fact that he has argued before us that the administrative circular will not operate as a fetter on the Commissioner since it is a quasi-judicial authority, we only need to clarify that in all cases like the present, it will be open to the authorities, on the facts of individual cases, to grant deposit orders of a lesser amount than 20%, pending appeal.”
In that view of the matter, this writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the appellate authority to consider stay application on its merit, keeping in view Exhibits P5 to P7 Office Memorandums issued by Central Board of Direct Taxes as well as the decision of the Apex Court in M/s. LG Electronics India Private Limited.
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