Transfer jurisdiction under the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act depends on pending High Court matters when the Tribunal's power commenced.

Jurisdiction under section 15 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 extended only to matters and proceedings that were pending before the High Court on the date section 6(1) came into force. A second appeal was found either outside the class of transferable matters or no longer pending before the High Court on the relevant date, so the Tribunal could not assume transfer jurisdiction over it. The statutory scheme also did not allow any further direction in aid of transfer. The proceeding was therefore not entertainable before the Tribunal and was returned to the court from which the records had been received.

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Issues: Whether the matter was entertainable before the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal under section 15 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987, and whether the proceeding could be transferred to the Tribunal from the High Court.

Analysis: The Tribunal held that its jurisdiction in the transferred matter could arise only within the confines of section 15 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987. That provision contemplated transfer only of matters and proceedings pending before the High Court on the date section 6(1) of the Act came into force. The proceeding in question was a second appeal and, on the material before the Tribunal, it was either not within the class of matters liable to transfer or had already ceased to be a pending matter before the High Court on the relevant date. The Tribunal further held that the statutory scheme did not permit any other direction to be issued to it in aid of transfer.

Conclusion: The matter was not entertainable before the Tribunal and could not be transferred under section 15 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987.

Final Conclusion: The proceeding was held outside the Tribunal's transfer jurisdiction and was directed to be returned to the court from which the records had been received.

Ratio Decidendi: A proceeding can be transferred to the Taxation Tribunal only if it was a pending matter before the High Court on the date the Tribunal's transfer jurisdiction commenced; a matter outside that category is not entertainable under section 15 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987.

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