Why not a Committee of Chief Commissioners for appeal to High Court and Supreme Court?
Perhaps we should have a Committee of Chief Commissioners to decide on appeals against orders of the Tribunal. A Commissioner should be personally made responsible for pursuing the appeal in the High Court/Supreme Court. The Commissioner should be made to personally appear in the court and do everything to defend the case whenever it comes up for hearing. A case in the High Court or Supreme Court should be a rare happening and whenever that happens, the Commissioner should be personally responsible for defending the Revenue. If a Commissioner is mandatorily required to attend the Court, he would ensure that frivolous cases are not taken to higher courts.
Another important problem the Revenue faces is that the Assistant Solicitor General appointed by the Law Ministry is not really competent to handle complicated Revenue cases. (The fact though is, that the Revenue department does not provide any assistance to the solicitor). It seems there is a proposal to provide further employment opportunities to the retired Chief Commissioners of the departments as high value lawyers in the High Courts. This is yet another dangerous step. Not every Chief Commissioner is a good advocate. Advocacy and Chief Commissionering are a world apart and a just retired Chief Commissioner will have no idea about the procedure in a High Court. And handing over important cases of the department to such a retired Chief Commissioner would be disastrous. At least the Assistant Solicitor General knows some laws and his way around the court.
What then is the solution?
Throw the whole burden on the Commissioner. It should be his responsibility to win the case in the High Court/ Supreme Court. Let him hire the lawyer of his choice, but win he must and for every victory, he should get a reward and for every defeat he should get a punishment. At least the Commissioners will think twice before rushing to the High Court and then forgetting all about it.