New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday rapped the Income Tax Department for filing an appeal in a matter already decided, saying the frivolous exercise contributes to mounting pendency.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan said such cases lead to docket explosion and wastage of judicial time.

"We fail to understand why the department is continuously filing the Special Leave Petitions despite the order passed earlier by this court.

"Once a Special Leave Petition has been dismissed by the Supreme Court based on an earlier judgement of the Supreme Court, there ought not to be any more petitions filed by the department. We say so for the reason that filing of such frivolous cases would only add to the pendency of this court and also lead to docket explosion and unnecessary wastage of judicial time," the bench said.

The top court said the Income Tax Department must have a litigation policy.

The apex court had earlier slammed the IT department for non-compliance with its own circulars. PTI PKS MPL MPL

Income Tax Department warned against filing repeat appeals in already-decided cases to prevent docket explosion. The Supreme Court censured the Income Tax Department for repeatedly filing Special Leave Petitions after earlier dismissals based on existing precedent, finding such repeat appeals cause docket expansion, increase judicial pendency, and waste judicial time; the court urged the department to adopt a coherent litigation policy and comply with its internal circulars to prevent frivolous filings.