CBDT appeal monetary limits apply to pending departmental appeals when the later circular amends an existing retrospective policy.

CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 enhancing the monetary limit for departmental appeals was treated as an amendment to the earlier litigation-management policy in Circular No. 3/2018, not as a fresh scheme. Because the earlier circular had already made the monetary-limit instructions applicable to pending appeals, the revised threshold was held to extend to pending revenue appeals before the Tribunal as well. Where the tax effect fell within the enhanced limit, the departmental appeals were not maintainable on account of low tax effect.

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Issues: Whether CBDT Circular No. 17/2019 enhancing the monetary limit for departmental appeals to the ITAT applies to pending appeals and renders the present revenue appeals not maintainable.

Analysis: The amended circular was read as an enhancement of the earlier litigation-management policy under Circular No. 3/2018, not as a fresh and independent scheme. The earlier circular had expressly stated that the monetary-limit instructions would apply retrospectively to pending appeals, and the later circular merely substituted the monetary limits while leaving the rest of the earlier directions intact. On that basis, the relaxation in the monetary limit was held to govern pending departmental appeals as well, including those before the Tribunal, where the tax effect was within the revised threshold.

Conclusion: The revised monetary limit applied to the pending revenue appeals, and the appeals were not maintainable on account of low tax effect.

Ratio Decidendi: A CBDT circular enhancing monetary limits for departmental appeals, when issued as an amendment to an earlier circular that already made the policy applicable retrospectively to pending appeals, applies to pending appeals as well unless the later circular clearly excludes that effect.

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