Allowing the petition the Court held that ; once the CIT(A) concludes hearing the appeal, the stay application becomes infructuous. The exercise by CIT(A) of taking up the stay application, after the appeal was heard, was only done so as to collect some revenue before 31st March, 2018. This is certainly not expected of an Appellate Authority who adjudicates disputes between the Revenue and the Assessee on a regular basis. The CIT(A) must not only be fair but appear to be so, in a country governed by Rule of law. CBDT should investigate arm twisting measures, dehors application of the law, adopted by the Revenue for recovery of tax and take corrective measures to ensure AOs are not overzealous in recovering maximum revenue before 31st March. .( WP. No. 939 of 2018, dt. 27.03.2018)( AY. 2015-16)
Saibaba Sansthan Trust (Shirdi) v. UOI ( 2018) 403 ITR 283/ 164 DTR 187 / 255 Taxman 36 /302 CTR 230 (Bom) (HC) , www.itatonline.org
S. 225 : Collection and recovery – Stay – Once the CIT(A) concludes hearing the appeal, the stay application becomes infructuous. CBDT should investigate arm twisting measures, dehors application of the law, adopted by the Revenue for recovery of tax and take corrective measures to ensure AOs are not overzealous in recovering maximum revenue before 31st March.- CBDT was directed to take appropriate measure. [ S.115BBC, 220(6),226, 246A ]