Itxa/648/2009 Of The Commissioner Of Income Tax-I, Pune v. M/S. Maharashtra Arogya Mandal, Pune

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION INCOME TAX APPEAL NO. 1232 OF 2008WITHINCOME TAX APPEAL NO. 648 OF 2009WITHINCOME TAX APPEAL NO. 649 OF 2009WITHINCOME TAX APPEAL NO. 2178 OF 2009 The Commissioner of Income Tax – I,Pune v/s. .. Appellant M/s.Maharashtra Arogya Mandal,Pune..Respondent Mr. Suresh Kumar, for the appellant.Mr.Mihir Naniwadekar, for the respondent. P.C. CORAM : M.S. SANKLECHA & B.P. COLABAWALLA, J.J. DATED : 01[st] FEBRUARY, 2016. 1.Income Tax Appeals No. 649 of 2009, 648 of 2009 and 2178 of 2009 are not on board. As the issues involved are identical, at the request of the parties, these appeals are taken up for consideration along with Income Tax Appeal No. 1232 of 2008. 2.These Appeals relate to Assessment Years 2000-01 to 2003-04. 3.Mr. Suresh Kumar, learned Counsel appearing for the Revenue invited our attention to Circular No.21 of 2015 issued by the Central Board for Direct Tax dated 10[th ] December, 2015. In particular, our attention invited to paragraphs 3 and 10 therein which read as under:- “3:-Henceforth, appeals/SLPs shall not be filed in cases where the tax effect does not exceed the monetary limits -given hereunder: It is clarified that an appeal should not be filed merely because the tax effect in a case exceeds the monetary limits prescribed above. Filing of appeal in such cases is to be decided on merits of the case.” “10:-This instruction will apply retrospectively to pending appeals and appeals to be filed henceforth in High Courts/ Tribunals. Pending appeals below the specified tax limits in para 3 above may be withdrawn/not pressed. Appeals before the Supreme Court will be governed by the instructions on this subject, operative at the time when such appeal was filed.” 4.In all these appeals, the tax effect is less than Rs. 20 lakhs as particularised hereunder : 5.Mr. Suresh Kumar, learned Counsel for the Revenue further states that the impugned order is a common order dealing with 4 Assessment Years. In none of the 4 Assessment Years, the tax effect is in excess of Rs.20 lakhs. Consequently, these appeals are not hit by clause 5 of the Central Board of Direct Taxes' Circular No.21/2015 dated 10[th ]December, 2015. 6.In view of the above, Mr. Suresh Kumar, learned Counsel appearing for the Revenue seeks liberty to withdraw the appeals. 7.Accordingly, Appeals are dismissed as withdrawn. 8.Refund of Court Fees, as per Rules. (B.P. COLABAWALLA, J.) (M.S. SANKLECHA, J.)