The Income-tax Appellate tribunal (ITAT) would be celebrating its `Platinum jubilee’ on 24th and 25th January, 2016.

President Shri Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chief Guest at the function and will be inaugurating the `Platinum Jubilee’ celebrations. The function will also witness addresses by the Chief Justice of India, Justice Shri T. S. Thakur, the Union Minister of Law and Justice Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda and the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The tax tribunal, as is also fondly called the mother tribunal is currently presided over by Justice (Retd.) Shri Dev Darshan Sud. It was set up before independence in 1941 with the object of delivering impartial, easy and speedy justice both to assesses and the Department. The ITAT is a second appellate authority, and further appeal against its order lies to the High Court.

The inaugural session will be followed by three technical sessions, viz., ‘Developing Tax jurisprudence in cross-border transactions – Challenges and opportunities’; `Emergence of Technology in justice delivery system – A way forward’; and `Tax Litigation vis-a-vis ease of doing business in India’. These sessions will be chaired and addressed by legal luminaries and eminent speakers including Justice Shri Dipak Misra and Justice Shri Adarsh Kumar Goel, the sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Shri Badar Durrez Ahmad, Justice (Retd.) Shri R.V. Easwar, Shri P.K. Malhota, the Union Law Secretary, Shri A.K. Jain, Chariman, CBDT, Shri Manoj Fadnis, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Shri Harish Salve, Senior Advocate and Mrs. Anita Kapoor.

The Valedictory session will be chaired by the Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Shri Arun Jatitley.

A postal stamp will also be released to commemorate the event.

Second appellate authority: ITAT highlights tax jurisprudence, cross-border issues and technology in justice delivery celebration. Recognition of the Income tax Appellate Tribunal as a Second Appellate Authority established in 1941, mandated to provide impartial, accessible and speedy adjudication in tax disputes with further appeals to the High Court; and a programme focusing on tax jurisprudence in cross border transactions, technology in justice delivery, and the interaction between tax litigation and ease of doing business.