Timely Filing Of Appeals In Tax Matters Needed; Supreme Court Calls For E-System To Track Revenue Litigation

"Right now, they say that there is no methodology to know if appeals are being filed on time. Why can you not have a CIS like system like the Judiciary. Then the government can easily track, monitor and retrieve data, the government can have its own data grid on the revenue side. It is an ambitious project. You can benefit from the Judiciary's experience of trial-and-error over 15 years...", directed Justice Chandrachud to SG Tushar Mehta.

"We had such a case only recently where the state of Jharkhand was involved, where the order was served on the assessee only after 5 years. The assessee simply said that the statute does not require him to maintain the records after 5 years and so he has destroyed the same and we had to dismiss the SLP. But the officers were apparently in league with the assessee!", remarked Justice Chandrachud.

"These proceedings have been consistently adjourned at the request of the Union of India after the Court issued certain preliminary directions on 15 February 2021 (as regards the proposal for adopting a technology based solution for monitoring revenue proceedings and litigation at all levels)...The patience of this Court is now wearing thin...Hence, the delay in responding to the Court is beyond comprehension. We find the recalcitrance on the part of the Ministry of Finance in the Department of Revenue unacceptable. However, before we take the next step of issuing a contempt notice, we give a last and final opportunity to the Union Government to sort out the issue and come before this Court with a concrete plan of action, beyond circulars. We clarify that if, on the next date, no such proposal is forthcoming, the Court will be constrained to take recourse to the coercive arm of the law against the officers involved", the bench had said.