Looking into vacancies in income tax appellate tribunals: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday told a Bengaluru-based bar body that it is looking into issues related to vacancies in income tax appellate tribunals (ITATs). As soon as a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra assembled to hear the listed cases, a counsel representing the Bangalore Bar Association (BBA) made a mention about vacancies in the ITAT in the city. We are seized of the matter... we will look into the issue of pending vacancies, the CJI said and assured an early hearing. The ITAT is a quasi judicial body to deal with appeals under laws related to direct taxes in the country and appeal against its orders lie in high courts. Initially, ITAT had three branches in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The number increased to 63 and now the tribunal benches have seats in 30 cities covering the entire country. The ITAT has 126 members, including a president, a senior vice-president, nine vice-presidents, and 115 judicial and accountant ...