Frivolous Appeals - High Court imposes Costs of Rs 3 Lakhs on Income Tax Department
Why higher officials do not have the courage to take bold decisions?
Higher courts do not have to deal with Tax and Revenue matters only but all those involving life and liberty of citizens.
Revenue officers must realize that an executive power is in the nature of a Trust. They hold office as trustees of the public at large. They deal with public revenue and public money and that cannot be wasted in such frivolous litigation.
It would be open for the superior/competent authority to recover the costs personally from the officer responsible and equally take disciplinary action against him.
THE Bombay High Court recently came down heavily on the Income Tax Department for filing a frivolous appeal in the High Court against an order of the ITAT setting aside the penalty imposed by the adjudicating authority.
In doing so, the Tribunal merely followed the dictum of the Supreme Court in several decisions and in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax v/s Reliance Petroproducts Pvt Ltd reported in 2010-TIOL-21-SC-IT.
The High Court was not amused and it had some strong words for the Revenue. These are words that should be made into posters and pasted in the offices of all authorities who are concerned with litigation.
The High Court's observations:
We are surprised if not shocked that such appeals are being brought before us and precious judicial time is being wasted that too by the Revenue. The least and minimum that is expected from the Revenue officers is to accept and abide by the Tribunal's findings in such matters and when they are based on settled principles of law. If they are not deviating from such principles and are not perverse but consistent with the material on record, then, we do not find justification for filing of such appeals. We have found that merely expressing displeasure orally is not serving any purpose.
We do not understand why higher officials do not have the courage to take bold decisions particularly of not pursuing such matters upto this court or higher.
Higher courts do not have to deal with Tax and Revenue matters only but all those involving life and liberty of citizens, their property rights, Rights of Children, Women and Senior Citizens. These rights are also precious and the legitimate expectations of such persons or groups of easy and expeditious justice also have to be fulfilled by the higher judiciary.
The biggest litigant, namely, the State ought to be aware of the Pendency of Cases in High Courts of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Allahabad for example. If their policies particularly on litigations are not aimed at reducing frivolous and speculative litigations, then, the least that can be said is that the State has failed to act for public good and in Public Interest. The State is expected to act as a Model Litigant. It must set an example for the Public to follow and we hope that this order acts as a reminder for all concerned to atleast now take remedial steps and measures.
The Revenue officers must realize that just like other powers an executive power conferred in them is in the nature of a Trust. They hold office as trustees of the public at large. They deal with public revenue and public money and that cannot be wasted in such frivolous litigation.
Every case must be dealt with on its merit and no routine exercise ought to be undertaken merely because the Revenue impact is higher or the status or financial position of the Assessee is influential and strong. That cannot be the only yardstick or criteria.
We, therefore, dismiss these appeals with costs quantified at Rs.1,00,000/each.
It would be open for the superior/competent authority to recover the costs personally from the officer responsible and equally take disciplinary action against him if the power to decide about filing such appeals is abused or the decision making authority is utilized to harass innocent Assessees.
At least now, the Revenue officers should behave like responsible revenue officers and not waste the Public Revenue in filling up court dockets.