Itxa/803/2012 Of The Commissioner Of Income Tax -10 v. M/S. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd

sbw IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION INCOME TAX APPEAL NO.803 OF 2012 The Commissioner of Income Tax-10-Versus-M/s. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. ..Appellant ..Respondent ........... Mr. Tejveer Singh for the Appellant.Mr. R. Murlidhar with Balasaheb Yevale i/b. Rajesh Shah & Co. for the Respondent. ........... CORAM: S.C. DHARMADHIKARI AND A. K. MENON, JJ. DATE :- 1[st] OCTOBER, 2014 P.C.: 1]It is very unfortunate that we had to secure the presence of the highest officers in the department of Income Tax, for seeking an explanation on the points which we have raised in our order dated 12[th ]September, 2014. 2]Accordingly, Mr. Tejveer Singh appearing on behalf of the Revenue states that the officers are present in Court and they apologize for the lapse on their part in filing of such Appeals and which raises a question fully concluded against the Revenue by a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India to which detailed reference has been made in our earlier order. 3]The only intent to secure personal appearance of higher officials is to impress on the Revenue that larger public interest mandates and requires it not to waste precious time of the highest Court in the State by engaging it in frivolous Appeals and applications. It may be that, at the departmental level, the officers are not satisfied with adverse orders and desire to contest the issue or raise it before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. However, when the Tribunal follows and applies the ratio of a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, then, we would expect the officers to gracefully accept an adverse verdict. Where no distinguishing feature can be pointed out, then, the law of the land must be allowed to prevail. The mandate of Article 141 of the Constitution of India is known to all. The further mandate of the Constitution as enshrined in Article 261(1) is giving of full faith and credit to public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the union and of every State. Therefore, the law declared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court binds all and cannot be brushed aside. The repeated attempts to raise the same issues and questions in relation to same Assessee and year after year results in loss of precious judicial time and public revenue. We do not expect hereafter such an irresponsible conduct from the higher officers. Ordinarily, we would have in the absence of any explanation forthcoming, passed severe structures against the department and the officers in particular but we refrain from doing so since the concerned officials *3* present in Court sincerely apologized for the lapse and urged that the Appeal may be disposed against the Revenue and in terms of our earlier orders so also the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, both of which are binding on us. Hence, the Appeal is dismissed. No costs. (A. K. MENON, J.) (S.C. DHARMADHIKARI, J.)