March of the Professional

Welcome address by Shri S. E. Dastur, President, ITAT Bar Association, Mumbai — Inaugural function of the ITAT Bar Association held on 23rd August, 2007

When we met the Chief Justice and requested him to inaugurate the refurbished extended library his immediate response was that if it was a function of the Bar he could not say no and he would certainly come with pleasure. This is not surprising because His Lordship before his elevation to the Bench of the Delhi High Court in November, 1994 was a leading member of the Delhi Bar. Soon after his appointment, as per the then prevailing practice he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. His Lordship had also functioned for a brief spell of six months as an Addl. District and Sessions Judge in Himachal Pradesh before resigning his post and resuming his practice in New Delhi. This has undoubtedly added to his understanding of the problem of the lower judiciary. In the 60th year of independence, Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar who was born on the last day of the year of swatantrata has been appointed as the 37th Chief Justice of the 145-year-old High Court at Bombay, which in so far as we are concerned is the premier High Court in the country. I hope my Lord the Chief Justice agrees with me even though his tenure here has to date been for a short time. However, one caveat. In so far as tax matters are concerned in view of the huge buildup of pending cases the Court often finds that the issues it has to resolve have already been considered by a sister court and it is not in a position to lay down law in what may be termed virgin territory. With the increase in the number of sanctioned Benches in the Tribunal at Bombay to 15, of which 12 function regularly, about 12,000 appeals are disposed of by the Tribunal every year and on a conservative basis, and even bearing in mind the 4 lakh of tax limit for the Revenue to file appeals, the fresh appeals which the High Court will have to deal with on merits will be at least 2000 not counting the admission hearings. It is, therefore, extremely welcome that my Lord the Chief Justice has increased the direct tax days in the High Court to three per week. This has resulted in quite a few old references being disposed of. With such success in mind. I am sure the Chief Justice will in the near future be in a positive to have a tax Bench functioning for all 5 days in the week.

The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal was the first major judicial Tribunal constituted in our country. It was born on 25th January, 1941 when two Benches started functioning from the Assurance Building opposite the Churchgate Station. In the course of time several of the members of the Tribunal have become judges and Chief Justices of the various High Courts. Shri Mohammed Monir who was the first President of the Tribunal and author of the classic on the Evidence Act later became a Judge of the Lahore High Court and thereafter Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Their Lordships Ansari, Mehta, Omprakash and Thanikachalam have become Chief Justices of the Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Sikkim High Courts. Recently, Justice Shri Y. R. Meena has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. Shri S. Ranganathan who was the President of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal later became a Judge of the Supreme Court and thereafter was the First Authority for Advance Rulings constituted under Chapter XIXB of the Income-tax Act. The first lady Judge of the Supreme Court Kumari Fatima Biwi was also a member of the Tribunal. She also had the rare distinction of being appointed to the Supreme Court after having retired as a Judge of the Kerala High Court. The High Court at Bombay has perhaps not utilized the services of the members of the Tribunal as fully as it could have with profit. Only 2 members namely, Justice T. D. Sugla and Justice U.T. Shah have been elevated to the High Court at Bombay from the Tribunal.

The ITAT Bar Association will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee in another 6 years. Shri Gaitonde the then President of the Tribunal was rather surprisingly also the first President of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association. If my memory serves me right Shri Gaitonde is the only person directly appointed as President without previously being a member of the Tribunal. He was from the Ministry of Law. After Shri Gaitonde the legendary Nani Palkhivala was the President of our Association for 37 years. He was then succeeded by Shri Y. P. Trivedi. You will observe that thereafter there has been a fall in the quality of the occupant of the President’s chair.

The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal Bar Association has about 350 members. The membership is open to advocates, chartered accountants and tax practitioners. In the short time which His Lordship spent in the library today he would have noticed the vast array of books, magazines and reports which are housed there. More than 25 magazines and journals dealing with tax and allied subjects are regularly subscribed to. I do not think there is any tax journal worth its name which does not find place in the library.

We have the full set of All India reports, the Supreme Court cases and Sales tax cases and reports and journals dealing with company law, service tax, excise, sales tax etc. Though it is a bit of our own back slapping I may be permitted to boast that the library is indeed one of the best tax libraries in India. In addition to the vast paper literature, if I may call it that, the library has CDs and DVDs, ITR online and other facilities for carrying on research. It has also installed a wifi service to enable members to access the internet using their own wifi enabled computers and other mobile devices. The website of the Association enables its members and guests to access the latest news and judgements. There is a lively interactive forum where members can post their queries and get them discussed and answered. The library was initially funded by Shri Chunilal Karsandas and later supported by D. M. Harish Foundation, both of whom where leading members of the Association.
We have already requested the President for more space so as to house some essential reports near the new Court rooms situated in the space acquired from All India Radio to which I refer later. He has been sympathetic. You will notice that like Oliver Twist we ask for more and hope with greater success than he had! It will also afford us an occasion to have another function!

Recently, a special section has been earmarked for the R. J. Kolah International Tax Library which contains books, magazines, journals and reports dealing with international tax which is an extremely fast expanding subject with the increase in India’s standing in the international world, international trade and setting up of business by leading foreign companies in India. RJ was perhaps the only person who practised before the Tribunal when it was formed and also when it celebrated its Golden Jubilee!

Apart from the various facilities provided to its members by the Association, the Association has very actively taken up causes of professional and public concern and of importance. When there was a threat to the powers of the President for posting and transferring members being restricted and vested with the Central Government the ITAT Bar Association successfully filed a public interest petition before the High Court which ultimately travelled to the Supreme Court and is reported as Ajay Gandhi & Anr. V. R. Singh 265 ITR 451. At one stage there was a move to shift the headquarters of the Tribunal to Delhi. It was mainly due to the representations made by the Association that the Government was persuaded to retain the headquarters at Bombay which is but fitting as 40% of the country’s direct tax revenue comes from this city which is the commercial capital. We trust the Headquarters will always remain here. Sometime ago it was proposed to constitute additional Benches of the Tribunal to function from Navi Mumbai. The Association successfully opposed the move by filing a public interest litigation in the High Court at Bombay pointing out that adequate space was available on the fourth floor of this building itself contiguous to the space already occupied by the Tribunal. This resulted in a large area vacated by All India Radio being allotted to the Tribunal. This has enabled the Tribunal to have 4 more court rooms, a very large hall by way of a library for the members and other facilities which Your Lordship will observe as we proceed from here for refreshments.

Newly transferred members and members appointed from the profession were facing the problem of being allotted accommodation appropriate to their status. The Association had filed a PIL in the High Court and the matter was satisfactorily resolved.

The refurnishing and extension of the library, which Your Lordship has kindly just inaugurated, has entailed a lot of hard work, Dr. K. Shivaram who always spearheads the various initiatives taken by the Association, our Secretaries, Treasurer and Mr. Sonde have devoted a great deal of time in this behalf and our grateful thanks are due to them. We are also grateful to the President and the Vice-President for the co-operation always extended to us and for letting us have the use of the Tribunal’s premises. Above all, our thanks are due to Your Lordship for sparing your time to be with us and to inaugurate the refurbished library which we are sure will help several generations to come who will be practising in this august Tribunal.