INCOME TAX

F.No.279/Misc/54/2015-SO(ITJ)

Government of India

Ministry of finance

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi the 20th March, 2015

To

All Pr Chief Commissioner of Income Tax

Madam/Sir,

Sub: Responsibility of Standing Counsel in Communicating Court’s Decision-reg.

I am directed to ref to the above and to state that it has come to the notice of Board that in a recent incident, the Hon’ble High Court has passed certain remarks against the Department. It appears that the High Court had sought certain information regarding the case from the Departmental Counsel. The Standing Counsel had communicated the directions of the Hon’ble Court, in the said case, in a routine manner but did not follow up the matter even though the said case was listed for almost a year till the Hon’ble High Court was constrained to issue directions in writing.

2. Standing Counsel have a duty to uphold the interests of the Department, Further it is their burden to obtain the information called for and comply with the directions of the Court from the CIT concerned and if the issue is not resolved at that stage, the matter should immediately be brought to the notice of the controlling officer, i.e., the CCIT concerned. Para 8.5 of the Instruction No. 3/2012 dated 11.04.2012 mandates that the counsel shall keep the CIT informed of the important developments in the case from time to time particularly with regards to dates of hearing, conclusion of hearing etc. The Counsel can not absolve himself from his responsibility to get the directions of High Court complied with under any circumstances.

3. This must be brought to the notice of all Standing Counsels in your Region for strict compliance.

Such incidents should be taken note of while evaluating their performance.

Yours faithfully

(Priyanka Singh)

Under Secretary, ITJ, CBDT