In ITA No. 1384/Kol/2017 -ITAT- ITAT (Kolkata) rules President lacks authority to transfer appeals between Headquarters
Members Rajpal Yadav (Vice President) & Dr. Manish Borad (Accountant) [13-07-2023]

Read Order: DCIT, Circle-11(1), Kolkata v. M/s. K.K. Patel Finance Ltd.

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, August 11, 2023: The Kolkata bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) recently ruled that the President of the ITAT does not possess the authority to transfer appeals between different headquarters. This authority is limited to cases within a specific headquarters where multiple benches operate.

In the case under consideration, an assessment order was issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-5(1), located in Indore. For the Assessment Year 2009-10, the revenue filed an appeal against the CIT(A)'s order with the ITAT Indore Bench. In contrast, the assessee filed a cross-appeal with the ITAT Kolkata Bench.

The two-member bench of Rajpal Yadav (Vice President) and Dr. Manish Borad (Accountant) clarified that the jurisdiction of the appellate tribunal is determined by the geographical location of the Assessing Officer. In this case, since the Assessing Officer was based in Indore, the appellate jurisdiction of both the ITAT and the High Court rested in Indore.

The bench cited the case of MSPL Limited vs. PCIT [LQ/BomHC/2021/666], where the Bombay High Court ruled that the President of the ITAT does not possess the authority to transfer appeals between different headquarters. The power to transfer appeals is restricted to a specific headquarters where multiple benches operate. For instance, if there are several benches in Kolkata, the President can transfer an appeal from one bench to another within Kolkata, but not from Kolkata to any other location in the country.

In light of this, the bench concluded that the appeals in their current form were not valid before the ITAT Kolkata. The parties were given the freedom to approach the appropriate authority, taking into account the recent clarification of ITAT Rules by the Bombay High Court. The bench emphasized the importance of avoiding potential miscarriages of justice and granted a two-month period from the date of the order for the parties to approach the ITAT bench in Indore, which was the proper jurisdiction for these appeals.