CIT vs. State Bank Of India (Bombay High Court)

When the Revenue challenges the order of the Tribunal which in turn relies upon another decision rendered by it on the same issue, then in cases where the Revenue has accepted the order by not preferring any Appeal against the earlier order, the Revenue should not challenge the subsequent order on the same issue. In case an appeal is preferred from the subsequent order, then the Memo of appeal must indicate the reasons as to why an appeal is being preferred in later case when no appeal was preferred from the earlier order of the Tribunal which has merely been followed in the later case. In any case, the Officer concerned must atleast file an Affidavit before the matter comes up for admission, pointing out distinguishing features in the present case from the earlier case, warranting a different view in case the appeal is being pressed. The absence of this being indicative of non-application of mind, does undoubtedly give an opportunity to the Revenue to arbitrarily pick and chose the orders of the Tribunal which they would challenge in the Appeal before the this Court. Uniformity in treatment at the hands of law is a basic premise of Rule of Law. We trust that the Revenue would take appropriate steps to ensure that the aforesaid directions be implemented in all subsequent matters which are pending Admissions before this Court. If this exercise is done by the Officers of the Revenue, precious time of all concerned would be saved (CIT v/s. Smt. Veena G. Shroff referred (attached)).