Defective Revenue Appeals lying in defect for more than three years dismissed by Delhi High Court
THE Commissioner of Income Tax (Judicial) filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court on 5.2.2016 submitting that:
1. There were about 272 defective appeals pending upto the year 2012.
2. There were 149 defective appeals up to 2012 where the tax effect is less than Rs. 20 lakhs.
As per the new litigation policy, the less than 20 lakh appeals are to be withdrawn. The Delhi High Court dismissed these appeals as not pressed.
The Revenue Counsel wanted the other defective appeals to be considered for condonation of delay. The High Court was of the view that a delay of more than three years in re-filing of the appeal cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be accepted particularly in view of the standard reasons offered for the delay in such re-filing. So all those appeals were dismissed.
Why should the Revenue take the trouble of filing an appeal at huge costs if it cannot rectify the defects pointed out and refile them? In one stroke they lost 272 appeals.
It appears that there are 46 defective appeals pertaining to the year 2013. The Delhi High Court has allowed the Revenue Department to cure them within a month from 8.2.2016.
As far as the defective appeals of 2014 are concerned, the exercise of curing the defects and getting the appeals registered/numbered will be completed by the Revenue within two months from 8.2.2016.
Rest of the defective appeals will have to be cured within three months from 8.2.2016.
We don't know how many of these defective appeals will be cured and how many will be salvaged.