Latest News | ITAT Bar Associations Seek Relook into Budget's Faceless Appellate Process Proposal
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Bar Associations are seeking a relook into the government's decision to make these courts faceless, a senior official said on Monday.
Mumbai, Mar 22 (PTI) Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) Bar Associations are seeking a relook into the government's decision to make these courts faceless, a senior official said on Monday.
The Federation of ITAT Bar Associations has been formed as an umbrella body of leading ITAT bar associations in the country to oppose the provisions on faceless appellate tribunals, Prakash Jotwani, a coordinator for the body, said.
In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that after making tax assessments faceless, the ITATs will also go faceless to reduce litigation.
"The tribunals are like courts and making them faceless means dismantling an existing justice system. We would urge for a review of the announcement before the Finance Bill is passed," Jotwani said, claiming that no other country follows such a system.
He said written replies will have to be submitted in the faceless system, and there is no way of knowing if the judge has properly understood an argument or the provision to explain nuances.
The federation has written to both the finance minister and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking a review of the decision before the Finance Bill is passed.
Jotwani said the Federation has also sought appointments from the finance minister and the law minister on the issue.
If the Finance Bill gets passed and its provision on making the IT appellate process faceless becomes a law, the ITAT Bar Associations plan to file writs across High Courts of the country challenging the law.
He said at present, there are 70,000 cases pending before the 30 benches of the ITATs across the country, with the financial capital alone accounting for 20,000 of those.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)