2016 (7) TMI 1688

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....tract paras 5 to 7 of the said order, which reads as under: "5. As regards the outstanding payments to the other panel counsel, the charts now placed before the Court indicates the dates on which some of the bills have been cleared for payment. It, however, does not indicate the dates on which the payments were actually credited to the accounts of the individual counsel through the Real Time Gross Settlement ('RTGS') system. The Court's attention has been drawn to the Instruction dated 11th April 2012 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes ('CBDT'), Annexure-2 of which inter alia states that the bills should be scrutinised within 30 days and "deficiency or excess claim, if any, shall be communicated to the counsel within a week of su....

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....3. It is now pointed out by the Department that after the bills are processed by it, they are sent to the Zonal Accounts Officer ('ZAO') for payment. The bills are checked at three levels in the office of the ZAO, i.e., Dealing Clerk, Assisting Accounts Officer and finally the Accounts Officer. It is stated that the check and verification at the ZAO's end usually takes a month. In that view of the matter, the Department in para 7 of the application has proposed the revised time lines for scrutiny and verification of the bills and release of the payments. 4. Having heard Mr. Sanjay Jain, learned Additional Solicitor General of India, the Court is of the view that there is no ground made out for modification or recall of the Court's directio....

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....port of the Department on the issue of clearance of bills of the counsel has been perused. 7. Mr. Jain states that most of the bills of Mr. N.P. Sahni, Advocate have already been paid. The issue of payment of interest on the amount of the bills that have been cleared is still outstanding. Mr Jain conveys the understanding of the Department that the guidelines that were to be formulated in terms of the Court's order on this issue would be prospective and therefore the Department would not be called upon to pay interest on the bills that have been paid to Mr. N.P. Sahni and other Standing counsel. 8. With the Court having reiterated the directions issued by it in the order dated 29th March 2016 and having dismissed the application of the De....