Monetary Limit for Filing Appeals before High Court - Karnataka High Court Does Not Follow its Own Order
BY Instruction No. 3/2011 dated 09-02-2011, the CBDT directed that no appeal should be filed in the High Court if the Revenue involved is not more than Rs. 10 Lakhs. Now, there was a question as to whether these instructions were applicable prospectively or retrospectively. The Karnataka High Court itself in CIT vs Ranka & Ranka - , held that the Instruction No. 3/11 is applicable to the pending appeals also.
Now, in the case referred above, the Karnataka High Court held that the decision of the same High Court in the Ranka & Ranka case is against the provision under Section 268A of the Act, Public Interest and the Public Policy. The Bench virtually overruled the same High Court judgement delivered 11 months ago. Both the judgements are by Division Benches of two judges. Is the latest Bench not bound by the decision of the earlier Bench and in case of disagreement, shouldn't the matter be referred to a Larger Bench?
Incidentally, the decision in the Ranka & Ranka case is in appeal before the Supreme Court and what will happen if it is upheld by the Apex Court?