Tribunal jurisdiction limited to issues in appeal; final findings not open to challenge without Revenue appeal.

The Tribunal cannot travel beyond the subject matter of the assessee's appeal and disturb a finding that had attained finality because the Revenue did not challenge the first appellate order. Here, the only live issues were rejection of books of account and estimation of taxable turnover of glass bangles, but the Tribunal went further and held that the assessee had not manufactured bangles and had suppressed sales of glasswares. That adjudication was beyond jurisdiction, so the order was unsustainable; the revision was allowed and the matter remanded for fresh decision confined to the issues arising in the appeal.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal exceeded the scope of the assessee's appeal by recording findings on the existence of manufacture of glass bangles, when no appeal had been filed by the Revenue against the first appellate order.

Analysis: The first appellate authority's finding that the assessee manufactured and sold glass bangles had attained finality because it was not challenged by the Revenue. The only matter open before the Tribunal in the assessee's appeal was the rejection of books of account and the estimate of taxable turnover of bangles. By going behind the final finding and holding that the assessee had not manufactured bangles during the relevant year and had suppressed sales of glasswares, the Tribunal decided an issue beyond the subject matter of the appeal. Such adjudication was outside its jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The Tribunal acted beyond its jurisdiction and its order was unsustainable; the revision was allowed and the matter was remanded to the Tribunal to decide the assessee's appeal afresh only on the issues arising in that appeal.

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