Pre-admission tax payment condition is forum-specific and does not extend to appeals before the Appellate Tribunal.

Section 249(4) was construed as a forum-specific pre-condition for admission of appeals before the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner (Appeals), based on the structure of Chapter XX and its legislative context. The Tribunal held that this payment requirement was not extended by implication to appeals before the Appellate Tribunal, including appeals against block assessments under Chapter XIV-B. Accordingly, the pre-admission bar did not govern the Tribunal's appellate jurisdiction, the preliminary objection to maintainability failed, and the assessee succeeded on that issue, though stay of recovery was refused on the facts.

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Issues: (i) Whether the condition in section 249(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, requiring payment of tax on returned income before admission of appeal, applies to an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal against a block assessment under Chapter XIV-B.

Issue (i): Whether the condition in section 249(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, requiring payment of tax on returned income before admission of appeal, applies to an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal against a block assessment under Chapter XIV-B.

Analysis: The provision was traced to its legislative background and read as a restriction specifically attached to appeals before the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals) or Commissioner (Appeals). The structure of Chapter XX was treated as compartmentalised, with separate parts governing different appellate forums. The Tribunal held that the legislature did not extend the admission bar in section 249(4) to appeals before the Appellate Tribunal, and that neither equity nor departmental convenience could enlarge the statute beyond its text and scheme.

Conclusion: The requirement in section 249(4) did not govern appeals before the Appellate Tribunal. The preliminary objection to maintainability failed and the assessee succeeded on this legal issue.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal declined to apply the pre-admission payment condition to its own appellate jurisdiction, but it refused stay of recovery on the facts and circumstances of the case.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory pre-condition for admission of appeal applies only to the appellate forum expressly named by the legislature and cannot be extended to another appellate forum by implication or considerations of equity.

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