IT Tribunal’s powers should be made statutory: Lawyer

Dastur said one of the most important things that needed to be rectified are delayed judgments. He said it was no new phenomenon, but “these days tongues wag, and they say unpleasant things.”. He also suggested that at least 70 per cent of the judgments should be given in open court, if not all.Though Dastur blamed the bar for having encouraged the practice of dictating judgments in chambers (“so that the lawyers could use half the day for conferences”), he said it should be thenorm that an order is given in open court.

Justice B P Saraf of the Bombay High Court inaugurated the seminar earlier in the day. Besides Dastur other eminent tax lawyers like Dinesh Vyas and G S Jetley also spoke.

Dastur also said in cases of one member of the tribunal dissenting, the issue of dissent should be framed in the presence of the counsel for both sides. The law entails referring the issue to a third member.

Making some cutting remarks against the Tribunal in Mumbai, he said the office of the Tribunal should at least accept a letter when it is given, even if it does not reply to them. “Abuse the writer of the letter, but how can you refuse to accept it?” he asked, evoking laughter in the hall.He said the Tribunal should be given the power to award costs, so as to punish the frivolous appeals. The pendancy of cases in the Tribunal is 3,10,000, he said.