Lok Sabha Question No. 1703 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-02
Subject: Pending Income Tax Cases
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: A. Chellakumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

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## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1703 TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 2 ND  MARCH, 2020 PHALGUNA 12, 1941 (SAKA)

## PENDING INCOME TAX CASES

## 1703:  DR. A CHALLAKUMAR:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a)      the  number  of  tax  dispute  cases  under  trial  and  the  cases  where  appeals  are  under consideration in different courts along with the amount locked under litigation during the last three years;
- (b)    whether the Government has taken steps/ measures for early resolution of the cases; and
- (c)      if  so,  the  details  and  the  outcome  thereof  along  with  the  amount  recovered  by  the Government?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)

- (a)   Pendency and amount locked under litigation with respect to Income Tax appeals during the last three years at different fora is as under:

| F.Y.    |                             | ITAT**   | HC*      | SC*    |
|---------|-----------------------------|----------|----------|--------|
| 2016-17 | Pendency                    | 92,386   | 38,481   | 6,357  |
|         | Amount locked up (in crore) | #        | 2,87,817 | 8,047  |
| 2017-18 | Pendency                    | 92,817   | 39,066   | 6,224  |
|         | Amount locked up (in crore) | #        | 1,96,053 | 11,772 |
| 2018-19 | Pendency                    | 92,205   | 38,758   | 6,354  |
|         | Amount locked up (in crore) | #        | 1,36,465 | 23,560 |

## Source:

- *R&S Directorate, Pr. DGIT(Admin&TPS)
- ** Central Registry, ITAT, Mumbai
- # No details for Amount locked up is maintained by Central Registry, ITAT, Mumbai
- (b) & (c)  Pending appeals at various fora have to be decided as per the provisions of Income Tax Act, 1961.  Hence, there is no provision for early resolution of the cases.  However, as a measure of litigation management, revision of monetary limits for filing appeals at various judicial fora was done vide CBDT Circular 3 on 11.07.2018 which were further enhanced vide Circular 17 of 2019 dated 08.08.2019 as follows:

| Appellate Forum   | Monetary limit as per Circular 3/2018 (Rs)   | Revised Monetary limit as per Circular 17/2019 (Rs)   |
|-------------------|----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| ITAT              | 20 lakhs                                     | 50 lakhs                                              |
| High Court        | 50 lakhs                                     | 1 crore                                               |
| Supreme Court     | 1 crore                                      | 2 crore                                               |

Withdrawal of departmental appeals in consequence of above Circulars is as below table:

| Appellate Forum   | Withdrawals as per Circular 3/2018   | Withdrawals as per Circular 17/2019   |
|-------------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| ITAT              | 6985                                 | 6127                                  |
| High Court        | 7093                                 | 6156                                  |
| Supreme Court     | 959                                  | 1104                                  |
| Total             | 15,037                               | 13,387                                |

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