Circuit Bench Sittings by ITAT in Mangaluru Inaugurated
Circuit Bench Sittings by Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in Mangaluru Inaugurated, which will settle/clear income tax appeals pending in Mangaluru region, during the sittings from 30 January until 3 February 2017.
Mangaluru: The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)- Bengaluru branch is all geared up to hold circuit bench sittings in Mangaluru starting today, January 30 until February 3, 2017, to settle/clear of income tax appeals pending in Mangaluru region. This initiative is aimed at making it convenient for litigants, by having venues for the sittings in Mangaluru. It is noted that nearly 120 appeals are pending from Mangaluru region before the Bengaluru bench.
The inauguration of the Circuit Bench Sittings by ITAT in Mangaluru organized by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mangaluru Branch of SIRC of ICAI was inaugurated on Monday, 30 January 2017 at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)-Padil, Mangaluru, by Chief Guest Justice Dev Darshan Sud- Former Judge High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and also President of ITAT by lighting the lamp, along with other dignitaries on the dais namely- Sunil Kumar Yadav- Senior Member, ITAT Bangalore Benches; Inturi Rama Rao- Accountant Member, ITAT Bangalore Benches; Sudhanshu Srivastava- Judicial Member, ITAT Delhi Benches, New Delhi; Narotham Mishra- Principal Commissioner of Income tax, Mangaluru; Chandra Sekhar M- IPS, Police Commissioner of Police, Mangaluru; CA Keshava N Ballakuraya- Chairman, Mangaluru Branch of SIRC of ICAI; Jeevan Saldanha- President of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Mangaluru and Ram Subramanyam- Representative of ITAT, Bar Council, Bangalore.
The main purpose of launching this Circuit Bench Sittings in Mangaluru since nearly over one lakh appeals are pending at the national level, the majority of which are at Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. It should be noted that nearly 2,000 appeals are filed before the Bengaluru bench against the orders passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) every year, and nearly 5,000 appeals are still pending before the bench. Of which many of them were filed after 2011, for which the Tribunal is making attempts to settle/clear all these pending appeals. During their last visit to Mangaluru, the ITAT officials had inspected SDM College of Law-Mangaluru, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) building-Mangaluru and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry building to conduct the circuit bench sittings. But after much consideration, they decided on having the Circuit Bench sessions at ICAI-Padil, Mangaluru.
Addressing the gathering, Police Commissioner Chandra Sekhar said, “Peace and prosperity go hand in hand. If you have prosperity, you can cut down crime, and if you have peace, you can increase prosperity. I am very blessed to be the Police Commissioner of Mangaluru, even though I have served in Himachal Pradesh where our present chief guest was the High Court Judge there. I am happy to say that the Mangaluru police force is duty bound for the safety of the citizens. Laws are followed, so that lives are protected here. Even though we should have been more prosperous, but due to some issues we are little lacking behind here, but we will catch up soon. But I promise that I and my department colleagues will try our best to bring law and order in Mangaluru and strive for the betterment of the citizens of Mangaluru”.
Addressing the gathering, Justice Dev Darshan Sud said, “I am really overwhelmed to be in this beautiful coastal and educational town, Mangaluru. I have liked this town so much that I will return again. This circuit bench sittings launched here in Mangaluru will go a long way in helping litigants to settle their cases right here in the city instead of traveling far. Mangaluru should be lucky to have a police commissioner like Chandra Sekhar- Himachal Pradesh loss is now Karnataka’s gain. We should all know that the tribunal is nor pro towards anyone – we work in accordance with the law, we see that justice is served properly. We work for the welfare of the nation and once again I say that we are not pro towards anyone”.
Narotham Mishra and Ram Subramanyam also spoke and briefed about the Tribunal and Circuit Bench Sittings. After the formal programme, the chief guest inaugurated the Circuit Bench Sitting Room, along with other dignitaries. The vote of thanks was delivered by Sunil Kumar Yadav, while the programme was professionally compered by CA M N Pai.
