TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (11) TMI 274
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....y the Revenue and Assessee and one such judgment has also been delivered in D.B.S.A.W. No.1000/2009-CIT v. Birdhi Chand Ghanshyam Das, decided on 06.05.2011. 2. The controversy involved in the present is case is as to whether the Settlement Commission constituted under the provision of Income Tax Act was justified in passing ex-parte order in favour of assessee without giving proper opportunity of hearing to both the sides; and in such cases, a coordinate bench has already remanded the matter back to the Settlement Commission to decide the matter afresh in accordance with provisions of Section 245 D of the Act. 3. The relevant abstract of the said judgment delivered in the case of Anil Hastkala (P) Ltd. (supra), is reproduced herein b....
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.... (Ajay Rastogi), J." 4. The Division Bench of this Court in the case of Birdhi Chand Ghanshyam Das (supra) (Page 35) has held as under: "On facts, it is not in dispute at Bar that opportunity of hearing was not afforded by Settlement Commission to either of the parties. Only the assessee submitted the written arguments, not the Revenue. Written submissions were not filed by the Revenue. No time was granted by the Settlement Commission even to file the written submissions or for oral hearing due to paucity of time. As 31.3.2008 was the cut off date fixed, hence, it was observed that it was not possible for the Settlement Commission to provide opportunity of hearing to the parties. No doubt about it that in Para 6 of the orders th....
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....ing. The procedural safeguards have not been observed as such findings recorded in Para 6 of the orders of these 25 cases also cannot be permitted to survive. The Senior Counsel has referred to the objective of the establishment of the Settlement Commission by referring to the decision in CIT v. B.N. Bhattachargee (supra) in which the Apex Court has laid down that the purpose of substituting the method of investigative negotiation, just settlement and early eligibility by a higher-powered Commission for a tier-upon-tier of long protracted litigation, where victory may be Pyrrhic and futile, is ill-served by keeping out cases solely for the reason that departmental appeals have been filed. It is not for the court to explore the intendment....
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....ct of the Legislature in introducing section 245C is to see that protracted proceedings before the authorities or in courts are avoided by resorting to settlement of cases. In this process an assessee cannot expect any reduction in amounts statutorily payable under the Act. Reliance has also been placed upon the decision of the High Court of Bombay in Star Television News Ltd. (supra) in which Wanchoo Committee's recommendations have been quoted in Para 2.33 in which it has been observed that settlement is fair, prompt and independent. Suggestion was made that there should be a high level machinery in administrating the provisions. In our opinion, there is no doubt about it that the Settlement Commission has been established with the af....