Director Civil Aviation Punjab, Chandigarh v. Commissioner Of Income Tax, Chandigarh

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA ATCHANDIGARH. I.T.A.s No. 195 to 202 of 2008DATE OF DECISION : 13.02.2008 Director Civil Aviation Punjab, Chandigarh .... APPELLANT Versus Commissioner of Income Tax, Chandigarh ..... RESPONDENT CORAM :- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTALHON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR GARG Present:Mr. Pankaj Jain & Mr. Prakul Khurana, Advocates, for the appellant.* * * SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. ( Oral ) This order shall dispose of Income Tax Appeals No. 195 to 202of 2008, as the same are arising from one and the same order. These appeals have been filed by the Director Civil AviationPunjab, Chandigarh against the order dated 22.10.2007, whereby the eightappeals filed by the appellant before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal,Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as `the Tribunal')against the orders of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) Chandigarh[hereinafter referred to as CIT (A)] dated 28.2.2007, for the assessmentyears 1996-1997 to 2002-2003 and 2005-2006, raising a common question of law, have been dismissed, without considering the appeals on merits, only on the ground that counsel for the appellant failed to show thepermission to pursue the appeals, accorded by the Committee of Disputes.However, it was observed that in case “clearance” is obtained from theCommittee of Disputes, the appellant shall get the appeals restored bymoving an application. The said order was passed in terms of the variousjudgments of the Supreme Court i.e. inOil & Natural Gas Commissionv.Collector, Central Excise,(1994) 70 ELT 45 (S.C.) andOil & Natural GasCommissionv.Collector, Central Excise,(1992) Supplementary (4) SCC541. Learned counsel for the appellant, while referring to a letterdated 21.11.2007, written by Under Secretary, intimating the appellant thatthe Committee of Disputes is only constituted for the purpose of inter-sedisputes between Department of Central Government and the StateGovernment, contends that as far as the dispute between appellant and theIncome Tax Department is concerned, that is not to be considered by theCommittee of Disputes. However, learned counsel could not satisfy thiscourt whether the State of Punjab has taken any conscious decision to fileappeal against the order of the CIT (A) before the Tribunal. In view of the above, we are of the opinion that let the appellantfirst move an application for revival of appeals before the Tribunal itself bystating all these facts after placing on record the resolution of theGovernment as well as other material showing that as far as the present dispute is concerned, no approval from Committee of Disputes is required.If any such application is filed by the appellant within a period of onemonth, the same shall be considered and decided by the Tribunal inaccordance with law, after hearing the appellant, by passing the speakingorder. With the aforesaid observations, all these appeals standdisposed of. ( SATISH KUMAR MITTAL )JUDGE February 13, 2008 ndj ( RAKESH KUMAR GARG )JUDGE