Voluntary tax settlement bars an appeal where the challenged deletion merely records the Department's own concession.

A party cannot maintain an appeal against an item that was deleted pursuant to its own settlement and express concession before the appellate authority, because an appeal lies only at the instance of a person aggrieved by the order. Here, the Department had voluntarily accepted deletion of the disputed amount and the appellate order merely recorded that concession, so it was not aggrieved on that issue. The Tribunal therefore lacked jurisdiction to entertain the Department's challenge to the deletion, and the assessee succeeded on maintainability.

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Issues: Whether the Department's appeal before the Tribunal against deletion of Rs. 4,72,500 was maintainable in view of the concession and settlement recorded before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

Analysis: The item had been agreed to be deleted in the course of settlement between the assessee and the Department, and the Income-tax Officer expressly conceded before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that he had no objection to its exclusion. An appeal lies only at the instance of a person aggrieved by the order appealed from. Where the Department itself voluntarily accepted the deletion and the appellate order merely recorded that concession, the Department could not be treated as aggrieved in relation to that item, nor could it challenge the deletion as erroneous.

Conclusion: The Department's appeal on this item was not maintainable and the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain it; the answer is in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A party cannot maintain an appeal against a part of an order that merely gives effect to its own voluntary concession, because a voluntarily accepted result does not create the status of an aggrieved appellant.

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