(i) We are pained to address the serious damage done by this deliberate, mischievous and selective reference to facts by such responsible persons which grievously damages the public faith and belief in the honest fair play of the tax administration. The conscious and selective reference to facts demonstrates that at the very stage of filing of the appeal its fate and conclusion was known for which specific purpose the facts were attempted to be obfuscated. The filing of present appeal with complete knowledge of its fate by the Revenue only reflects the mischievous adamancy to attempt to mislead the Tribunal and waste the time of the Court and the officers concerned. The present appeal as a part of a search cannot be a case of non-application of mind where the grounds presumably proposed by the AO have been approved carelessly. To our minds the present appeal is a prime example of meritless litigation for reasons best known to the few departmental officers having powers of directing authorization for filing appeals. This over confidence of the concerned Departmental officers in filing an appeal completely devoid of merit prima facie shows that these officers endowed with the onerous task of handling Department\u2019s actions in litigation matters have willfully and deliberately failed to exercise their powers mindfully as required of them as per law and thereby abused government machinery to initiate a litigation which entails financial costs and tarnishes the image of the Department and also strains the government resources. <\/p>\n
(ii) This obduracy and adamancy of the concerned officers in filing a meritless appeal only because officially they are entitled\/empowered to do so, strikes a blow to the blind faith reposed in them by the tax administration in always acting fairly as evident from the orders passed in the Remand proceedings and the order of the CIT(A) in the present appeals. However only because of the conduct of few Departmental officers who appear to be unconcerned or rather mock the sincere efforts made by CBDT with impunity unmindful of the consequences to the system by their sense of entitlement the reputation of the tax administration suffers, this needs to be addressed at the earliest. The entitlement of always believed to be acting in good faith cannot be abused by irresponsibly setting in motion the entire justice delivery system where admittedly there was no grievance to the AO. The Assessing Officer including all the officers in the tax administration are functionaries of \u201cthe State\u201d exist for \u201cthe State\u201d and perform the functions of \u201cthe State\u201d. For this specific purpose they are entrusted with vast powers to discharge \u201cthe State functions\u201d. In the discharge of their onerous duties and responsibilities these officers are armed with wide and sweeping powers. <\/p>\n
(iii) The officers who have authorized the filing of the appeals and have filed the appeals have made a travesty of justice. Mocking at the system by filing the appeals and highlighting the apathy of the Department by issuing specific instructions from time to time that necessary due diligence and caution is not being exercised while granting authorization for filing appeals and to pursue litigation only in deserving cases. Filing of an appeal by an Assessing Officer is a right which is vested by the statue in the \u201cState\u201d herein the tax department i.e. the Assessing Officer as and when he is aggrieved by the order of the First Appellate Authority can file an appeal before the ITAT. However, where as in the present case, admittedly the Assessing Officer, consciously and carefully after due and proper enquiry carried out by issuance of notices u\/s 133(6) to the concerned persons\/parties and considering the material comes to the conclusion that he is satisfied by the claim of the assessee on verification, then in such a situation the filing of the present appeals cannot be justified and can only be termed as a farce. We are aware that the tax administration has put in place robust checks and balances to ensure that the filing of appeals is not done carelessly and as per the procedures set in place the grounds to be raised by the Assessing Officer have to be duly approved by a Senior Commissioner of Income Tax. The evidence that the said exercise in the facts of the present case has been done is on record. The said exercise in the facts of the present appeals has been reduced to a mere ritual cannot be ignored. Thus in the face of the above precedent where costs of Rs.10,000\/- have been awarded to the assessee by the Co-ordinate Bench having giving our serious consideration to the same in the facts of the present case where the Revenue has indulged in frivolous meritless litigation, we desist from awarding costs considering the statement of the Ld. CIT DR that due care shall be taken in future. It is our earnest hope and endeavour that having invited the attention of the Chairman, CBDT to this grave assault on the trust and reputation of fair play enjoyed by the tax administration the malaise is immediately addressed. We have taken cognizance of the fact that the present cases are group of appeals in a search case, however where the issue is given up by the AO in the remand proceedings in such an eventuality the mischievous manner of filing the appeals needs careful attention as the Revenue in the appeals before the ITAT cannot be allowed to waste the time of all concerned where the issue for all intents and purposes has been given up by him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We are pained to address the serious damage done by this deliberate, mischievous and selective reference to facts by such responsible persons which grievously damages the public faith and belief in the honest fair play of the tax administration. The conscious and selective reference to facts demonstrates that at the very stage of filing of the appeal its fate and conclusion was known for which specific purpose the facts were attempted to be obfuscated. The filing of present appeal with complete knowledge of its fate by the Revenue only reflects the mischievous adamancy to attempt to mislead the Tribunal and waste the time of the Court and the officers concerned<\/p>\n