What happened to National Tax Tribunal?
THE National Tax Tribunal Act, which is gathering dust in some Ministry, should be recovered and put into effect, so that some confusion can be avoided. It is not easy for every assessee to go to the High Court, let alone the Supreme Court and then wait for years to get a decision. Since Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax are taxes to be levied uniformly all over the country and since, almost every decision of the Tribunal, has all India ramifications, it is better that there is only one Appellate Authority and let it be the Supreme Court, if we cannot bring in the National Tax Tribunal. But Delhi is too far for many. Maybe we should have an exclusive circuit bench of the Supreme Court for tax matters, which should travel to all State Capitals to hear appeals.
But this is all a dream. We will have to go through the maze of litigation from Inspector to Supreme Court and in the whole process, there is only one community of winners - the lawyers - on both sides! Perhaps the laws are made for the lawyers!