‘If One Can, Why Not Others?’: Madras HC criticises Income Tax Dept Counsels Over Late Filing of Counter Affidavits, Directs Dept to Cooperate [Read Order]

The Madras High Court, in general, has commented on the frequent adjournments of the matters for filing counter affidavits from time to time by the counsels of the income tax department. In contract, the court appreciated Dr. B.Ramaswamy, Senior Standing Counsel for filing counter affidavit on time.

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The court stated that “This Court places its appreciation on record towards best efforts taken by Thiru Dr.B.Ramaswamy, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the respondents, in filing the Counter affidavit without taking any adjournment, when the matter came up for first hearing and facilitated this Court to dispose of the matter without keeping it pending for want of counter.”

Justice Krishnan Ramasamy has added that “When the learned Senior Standing Counsel is able to file the counter on the very first day of hearing, this Court is unable to understand as to why the other learned standing counsels are unable to file the counter affidavits in time in their respective matters.”

The bench was dealing with the case of a widow, who got an assessment order of Rs. Rs.57,72,878/- for the sale of a property inherited from ancestors, which has 6 family members. The court directed the widow to deposit only 2.5 lakhs as pre-deposit instead of 20% as directed by the PCIT.

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The court further criticised the frequent adjournments sought by the Income Tax Department, sharing an example where a matter had been adjourned seven times, and the counsel still requested an eighth adjournment. Such delays, the court stated, were unacceptable and had previously led to the imposition of costs.

Thus, the court appreciated the effort taken by Dr.B.Ramaswamy, Senior Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents to have filed the counter affidavit immediately on the first day itself when the matter was taken up for admission.

Justice stated that the public often perceives delays as being caused by the courts, but in reality, the backlog is frequently due to the failure of statutory authorities and their counsels to submit necessary documents on time.

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He urged standing counsels to be prompt in filing affidavits and to avoid seeking adjournments, stressing that doing so would save judicial time and help dispose of more cases efficiently. The court also called on the Income Tax Department to cooperate with their counsels to ensure timely filings.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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