The Kerala High Court last week dismissed a petition by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) wherein the officer pleaded to nullify the order of the Ernakulam Central Administrative Tribunal initiating misconduct proceedings against him on the ground of misconduct.
The charges against him were that while functioning as Additional Director of Income Tax at the Directorate General of Income Tax (Investigation) in Mumbai during the period between November 2009 and May 2010, he had abused his official position and committed serious misconduct and showed lack of integrity by unauthorisedly sharing the contents of an informant’s letter with an assessee, besides taking away confidential documents kept in the file of the Air Intelligence Unit of Mumbai concerning Davinder Ahuja who was intercepted at the Mumbai airport in 2009.
Terming that the charges made against the petitioner are very serious, the division bench of the High Court dismissed the petition and held that there was no inordinate or unexplained delay in the initiation of disciplinary proceedings. There were no compelling reasons to interfere with the CAT’s order.
The court, however, ordered that the disciplinary proceedings be completed within six months.
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