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The CBI has asked the revenue department of the finance ministry to conduct an inquiry to determine if orders issued by income tax appellate authorities in 75 cases, where private parties benefited at the expense of the government, were in accordance with law.

Over investigations spanning two years, CBI sleuths stumbled upon evidence suggesting that certain documents retrieved from the computers of a chartered accountancy firm were created prior to their issuance in the form of orders by appellate authorities.

This pointed to a nexus between the private persons and the appellate authorities. The CA firm seemed to have been a tout between the appellate authorities and the appellants, causing the government to lose out on crores of rupees.

“The multiplicity of orders, involvement of a large number of senior officials throughout the country and the quantum of money involved points towards widespread irregularities in the mode of functioning of the various appellate bodies connected with the IT department,” a senior CBI official said.

In 2008, the CBI registered a case against Jugal Kishore, member, accountant, IT Appellate Tribunal, Ravi Tulsiyan of S.K. Tulsiyan and Company (Chartered Accountants) , Subhash of Mayank Securities and Nishant Jain. The case was registered when the CBI recovered Rs 28 lakh from Kishore’s residence. The money had allegedly been paid to him by Jain on behalf of Subhash and on instructions of the CA firm.

Subsequently, the CBI seized the computers from the firm. Scrutiny of the disks led to the retrieval of 75 documents that showed striking similarity with 69 orders issued by ITATs in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and six orders issued by Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) of Kolkata. The documents were created before the issuance of the orders.

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0 Comments

  1. Amit says:

    The issue need not be trivialized by these irrelevant comments.

    ITAT is one of the few judicial bodies which are doing a reasonable job but the rot is setting in there as well. It is high time that Government should take strong steps, not merely symbolic witch hunting but serious corrective measures, to ensure that this institution does a good job. One of the steps could be to take a righteous Chief Justice as its President, after amendment in President’s qualifications comes into force with effect from 1st April 2012, and hand over this inquiry to him. This judge should be given mandate to cleanse the system and suggest measures to ensure that such things do not happen again.Neither CBI nor the current administrative set up can do any good in this matter- the former will be too harsh and will scandalize the issue, and the latter may or may not be effective.

    One more step should be that the tenure of a member should never exceed three years in a single posting at one place, and should ideally be kept at two years only. In addition to this, the Members should be rotated effectively and should have a variety of postings. Transfers from Delhi to Mumbai, and from Agra to Allahabad do no good. Bench constitution is another area where improvement is needed. All the benches should be constituted in a centralized manner by an authority which is above suspicion or in a transparent manner.

    Lets not throw the baby with the hot water. ITAT has played a good role and, with little bit of care, it can play a good role in future as well.

  2. Vijay Kumar says:

    The comments are silly, bereft of facts. SK Tulsiyan is an advocate, and his son Ravi runs the firm of CAs in father’s name.

  3. Jaskap says:

    It is surprising that Antaryami Acharya is trying to malign Chartered Accountants and projecting Advocates as the repository of good ethics. It is true that there are black sheep in every profession but the pride of the place is taken by Advocates. But for the Accountant members, the judicial members of the ITAT would be all at sea in grappling with accounting issues which are germane to all income tax disputes. The model of ITAT with judicial and accountant members is unexceptionable. Corruption should be dealt with with a strong hand be it at the level of Advocates or CAs or at the level of Judicial or Accountant members. If almost 15 yeras of my practice at the ITAT is any guide, the quality of orders passed by ITAT, barring very few exceptions, is of the highest standards.

  4. Vijay Kumar says:

    CBI finally scratches the surface of wrong doings! It has left out a case involving over Rs 500 crore revenue loss from Kolkata……

  5. Bidup says:

    ITAT is like any other similar money-spinning bodies legally constituted by the government with sole administrative powers deliberately concentrated in the hands of one authority-the president. And therefore perverse and motivated orders galore. Each and every selection for appointment of members, each transfer and posting of members, and the intereference by the “SUPREMO” in every matter before every bench must be investigated. Moreover, the Annual Property Statements of President and all presidents and members of the ITAT for the last 10 years must be scrutinised and this job should be done by the Supreme Court or the CBI-and NOT by the Law Ministry for obvious reasons.

    Mr. Antaryami Acharya is not correct in stating that ITAT is a judicial body. It is a mere tribunal and, at the most, a quasi judicial body like any other statutory authority like the ITO, etc. In fact, most of the orders passed by even Group-B officers in the IT deptt. are far superior in quality and standard than the generally perverse, illegal, haphazard and idiotic orders of the ITAT, unless the decisions are drafted by the Advocates/CAs who also pay the requisite consideration.

    The really capable and honest members are invariably rotting in places far away from their home towns, also for their inability and failure to comply with the requisite unwritten rules of the ITAT’s supremo.

    And, yes, Mr. Antaryami Acharya is not incorrect in implying that the racket is run by by a coterie of practitioners (advocates, CAs and ITPs alike) with the active connivance of departmental representatives, members officials of the registry and the usual pimps. In some cases, the department’s representatives openly operate as the two-way agency house. For getting particular benches/combination of members and convenient dates, the help/intervention of some practitioners or the registry is a must-but for getting particular orders, there is only one way.

    And there is absolutely no chance or possibility of this “system” being reversed.

  6. r. ramamurthy says:

    June 30,
    News though not shocked but it is surprising what action department has taken in those matters, whether appeals are filed in High Courts and what are the results of such appeals. It is because of monopoly of practice in Tribunals by few persons such things are happening. It is only high time but also right time to appoint members with some honesty so that the name of the institution will remain for some more time. The tribunal being final fact finding authority more care and caution requires in deciding issues. Corrpution at any cost should be stopped at least at Tribunal.Proper and persons interested departmental officers have to be posted to assist the Tribunal so that lapse are avoided when the matter is taken up in higher courts.

  7. Tira.T says:

    It is a very great relief to the officers of the IT department and conscientious practitioners of the tax laws. This should become a regular and annual feature in view of the rampant corruption in this 70 years old body and the quality of the orders members are passing. But, a similar exercise should also be made in respect of those orders made against the tax payers who “do not pay the consideration” in cases where there is tell tale evidence of a poor case of the revenue. There are hundreds of such cases where alone the members’ honesty is projected.
    It would be better if the grievances of tax payer appellants are also noted (about corrupt members) and absolutely illegal and wrong orders made with nakedly ulterior motives.

    It is also suggested that the scrutiny of such dishonestly passed orders should be made by an independent body constituted by retired IRS officers of known integrity and honest professionals.

  8. Antaryami Acharya says:

    ITAT is a judiciary body and it is expected that the govt. machinery is required to show equal respect as given to judiciary. But the chartered accountant firms who are allegedly involved in such scandals should be taken into task. For them only scandals like enron, satyam etc are taking place. The practising advocates at least sets example in maintaining the dignity of the juris. It is strange how the Advocates are not resisting the entry of CAs in the Tribunal as they have done in courts. When in high court, there is no accountnat member, accountant member in the tribunal also need to be abolished so that such unfair practice through that conduit can be restricted.

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