Delhi High Court directs Income Tax Appellate Tribunal to upload daily order sheets, updated causelists on its website

The Delhi High Court has directed the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) to upload daily order sheets and updated causelists on its website, as non publication of the same results in inconvenience to litigants and to lawyers alike (Ankit Kapoor v Income Tax Officer)..The order was passed by a Bench of Justices Manmohan and Navin Chawla on an appeal filed by one Ankit Kapoor against an order ITAT dated February 27, 2020."This Court is also of the view that non-publication of daily ordersheets as well as the revised cause list on the websiteby the ITAT results in inconvenience to the litigants in general and to the lawyers in particular. Accordingly, this Court directs the ITAT to upload the daily ordersheets and revised cause list on its website," the Court ordered.System in this regard, if not already there, should be put in place by the ITAT, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within three months, the Court added..Appearing for the petitioner Advocate P Roychaudhuri contended that the case was heard on February 14, 2020 and it was listed for further hearing on February 28, 2020. He further pointed out that on February 28, 2020, the petitioner did not find his matter in the cause list and was informed by the Registry that his matter had already been heard on February 21, 2020 and was dismissed on February 27, 2020.Roychaudhuri, therefore, stated that the order deserves to be quashed as the Petitioner did not get adequate and fair opportunity to represent his case. He contended that petitioner was under a bonafide belief that his case will be taken up for hearing on February 28, 2020 as pronounced in the Court on the last date of hearing i.e. 14th February 2020.Zoheb Hossain, senior standing counsel for Revenue accepted notice. He stated that he has no instructions in the matter but submitted that non-publication of daily cause list is causing inconvenience to litigants..Counsel for ITAT submitted that the matter in question had been listed for February 21 and not February 28 as claimed. However, due to a clerical error, the matter was not reflected in the cause list of February 21, but since the case was noted by the counsel before the Bench, the matter was taken up by the bench on February 21 and since none appeared on the behalf of the assessee even after noting the case, the matter was heard and order pronounced by the bench on February 27.The Court noted that it was apparent that the petitioner’s matter had been adjourned to February 21, 2020 and not February 28 as contended by the petitioner..However, the Court after taking into consideration arguments of both the parties and the circumstances of the case, decided that the petitioner did not have adequate opportunity to represent in his case, as neither the daily order sheet nor the revised causelist had been uploaded on the website. Therefore, the order passed by ITAT on February 27, 2020 was set aside, and the ITAT was directed to hear the plea afresh.The Court also directed the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal to upload daily order sheets and updated causelists on its website. .[Read Order]