Supreme Court pulls up Income Tax Department for filing appeal over ₹1.5 lakh

The Supreme Court on Monday rebuked the Income Tax Department for indulging in long and expensive litigation over small amounts [Principal Commissioner of Income Tax 1 v M/S Weedo Ventures Pvt Ltd].

A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar emphasised that a litigant should approach the apex court with utmost responsibility.

"Someone has to take responsibility before approaching the Supreme Court. We fail to understand why this case over a petty amount. So much of litigation here is because of income tax (department)! How much are you spending on this? One day's appearance (fees) at the Supreme Court will cost you more", Justice Khanna remarked.

The remarks came while dismissing an appeal against a Calcutta High Court order that had upheld an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal verdict.

The Bench was miffed as the amount in question was only ₹1.5 lakh and question of law, if any, could be examined in an appropriate case.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has expressed anguish over unnecessary litigation.

It had in August last year lamented that a large part of government litigation is frivolous even as a litigation policy being formulated continue to remain unfulfilled.

Further, the filing of frivolous petitions was unnecessarily increasing the Court's workload.

In May last year, a Bench led by Justice BR Gavai had remarked that at least 40 per cent of litigation pursued by the Central and State governments was frivolous.

In April 2023, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud commented that the Central government should adopt mediation in a big way instead of taking recourse to litigation for resolving legal disputes.