CHAMBER OF TAX CONSULTANTS, MUMBAISARBHUSHAN Vs. CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, MINISTRY OF FINANCE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned Counsel for the parties for final disposal of the Petitions.

(2.) The grievances of the Writ Petitioners and the Public Interest Litigation Petitioners substantially overlap. We may record brief facts. The Writ Petition is filed by the Association of Tax Consultants and its office bearers. They have challenged a portion of "Central Action Plan" (hereinafter referred to as 'the said plan') prepared by Central Board of Direct Tax (for short 'CBDT') for the financial year 2018-2019. We shall take a detail note of the relevant provisions contained in this plan later. For the moment we may note that this plan contains various provisions made by CBDT setting out targets of tax collection, disposal of cases by income tax authorities and for awarding points for such disposals. The grievances of the Petitioners relate to two areas of this plan. Petitioner's first grievance is in respect of time line set and the directions to the Commissioner (Appeals) for deciding appeals within such time. According to Petitioners such targets and time limits would put unnatural pressure on the Commissioner to decide the cases in a hasty manner, which has every possibility of denying a fair hearing to the assessee. Second area of the Petitioners' grievance is with respect to allocation of units for disposal of what has been referred to as "quality orders". The Petitioners would point out that these quality orders are those which result in favour of the department. According to Petitioners granting more weightage to such orders, would have the possibility of influencing the outcome of the Appeals before the Appellate authorities.

(3.) The Petitioners of the Public Interest Litigation have also challenged the same plan. The challenge however is confined to the portion of the plan, where the CIT Appeals have been given higher weightage for disposal of Appeals by quality orders.