Indigent Lawyer not able to pay fee - ITAT Not Impressed
A poor Lawyer was raided by the Income Tax Authorities who found a huge cash of ten thousand rupees and this huge discovery resulted in assessment proceedings against which she is in appeal before the ITAT. She submitted that she does not have the means to pay the fee required for filing the appeal and pleaded that she should not be denied her justice only on the ground of her inability to pay the appeal fees.
The ITAT was not impressed and rather did not believe her as it observed,
++ During the course of hearing before us, she stated that her annual income from profession is Rs 70,000. Whatever be the credibility of this statement, even going by her statement, it is not possible to infer that she did not have the means to pay Rs 7,510 as filing fees.
++ Unlike the cases of motor accident claims and railway claims, which involve even the most underprivileged section of society, income tax litigation is generally touching the lives of relatively affluent section of society, and there may not be any cases in which persons defined as 'indigent persons' could be involved in litigation before this Tribunal.
++ The assessee has wasted our precious time on adjudicating upon a frivolous plea, and now the assessee seeks an anticipatory permission, if need be, to pay the fees and to have the appeals restored.
The Tribunal incidentally found the lawyer apparently well versed with the intricacies of law. Is the lawyer poor or smart or both?
We will bring you this case on Monday.