look news india
Even though the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has emphasized on the disposal of pending applications related to income tax in the 100-day action plan for the financial year 2024-25, half of the…5,44,205 applications at the commissioner level are pending for disposal by the Income Tax Department (IT). A further 63,246 appeals are pending before various Income Tax Appellate Tribunals, High Courts and the Supreme Court. This figure is till January 31 this year. If these figures are taken separately, there are 20,266 petitions pending before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, 37,436 petitions before the High Courts and 5,544 petitions before the Supreme Court.
According to experts, many efforts were made by the government to speed up the disposal of pending applications of the IT department, but the target could not be achieved. The figures of pending applications are shocking. Since there has been no significant reduction in the backlog of appeals, each Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) will have to focus on disposal of about 150 applications by June 30. Since, internal targeting will speed up the process of disposal of applications.
The government has taken important initiatives in the last few budgets to speed up the disposal of appeals. For which the government is also trying to announce a parallel authority. It is noteworthy that for quick disposal of IT related applications, the right of appeal to the Joint Commissioner was also created by the government.
Even after filing a petition before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) (CIT) or the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), it takes up to a year to receive the notice for the first hearing. Not only this, in some cases it takes more than a year. The reason for which is filling the application form in advance. In such a situation, the need of the hour is that CIT and ITAT should fix the maximum time limit for immediate disposal of appeals.