New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI)The Supreme Court on Thursday said that appeals against orders of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) will lie only before the High Court within whose jurisdiction the assessing officer is situated.

A bench headed by Justice U U Lalit reiterated that the jurisdiction of a High Court is not dependent on the location of the ITAT, as sometimes a Bench of the ITAT exercises jurisdiction over the plurality of states.

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"We hold that appeals against every decision of the ITAT shall lie only before the High Court within whose jurisdiction the Assessing Officer who passed the assessment order is situated.

"Even if the case or cases of an assessee are transferred in the exercise of power under Section 127 of the Act, the High Court within whose jurisdiction the Assessing Officer has passed the order, shall continue to exercise the jurisdiction of the appeal," the bench also comprising Justices S R Bhat and P S Narasimha said.

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The top court said ITAT is a unified forum functioning in the form of Benches at the administrative discretion of the President.

"Jurisdiction exercised by the Benches of the ITAT do not follow the structure contemplated in Article 1 of the Constitution, which divides the Union into States and Union Territories. Instead, Benches are sometimes constituted in a way that their jurisdiction encompasses territories of more than one state," the bench said.

The apex court's judgement came on appeals giving rise to an important question concerning appellate jurisdiction of the High Courts under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against judgments of Income Tax Appellate Tribunals .

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