Bombay HC Rebukes Income Tax Department, Accuses It Of Deliberately Losing Cases 

The Bombay High Court rebuked the Income Tax Department (IT Department) by observing that its approach to litigation at the higher court level was leading to it consistently losing cases, Financial Express has reported. The Court in strong observations noted that the accumulating litigation losses ”could be then termed as a deliberate or intentional act.”

It may be noted that the IT Department has a very poor record at both the High Court and Supreme Court level with a success rate of 15 per cent and 26 per cent at the former and latter levels. These statistics were part of a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The Bombay High Court was also critical of the selectiveness in approach with respect to determining assessees and assessment years for scrutiny. These observations of the Court came during a hearing where the department sought the revival of an earlier rejected order on the grounds that the appellate authority’s decision was premised on a legal error. The High Court had rejected the earlier department appeal on grounds of procedural errors by the department.

While the High Court allowed the hearing on the rejected appeal, it also called for the department to initiate disciplinary action against the errant officers.