KERALA AGRICULTURAL INCOME TAX & SALES TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

WORKING OF THE TRIBUNAL

Usually appeals are heard at Headquarters by a Full Bench consisting of the Chairman, a Departmental Member and an Accounts Member. There are statutory provisions to hear and dispose of appeals by a Single Member Bench constituted by the Chairman, where the disputed tax in appeal is below Rs.25,000/-.  So also, appeals having disputed tax below Rs.1,50,000/- can be heard by a Division Bench of the Tribunal consisting of either Chairman and any one of the Members or a Bench consisting of the Departmental Member and Accounts Member. It is always mandatory that all the cases where disputed tax exceeds Rs.1,50,000/- have to be posted, heard and decided by a Bench consisting of the Chairman.  Similarly, the appeals involving questions of law also are to be heard by a Bench consisting of the Chairman.

Sometimes in certain appeals filed before the Tribunal, the Deputy Commissioner holding the post of the Member (Departmental) had been the first appellate authority who heard and disposed of the first appeal against the same assessment.  In such cases, that Departmental Member will not sit in Judgment on his own decision in first appeal as first appellate authority.  Such cases will be set apart and posted before a Bench consisting of the Chairman and the Member (Accounts) or, if possible, by a Bench consisting of the Member (Accounts) and another Member (Departmental).

An appeal to the Tribunal is presented before the Secretary, either in person or by registered post.  Secretary receives the appeal, affix his dated signature acknowledging receipt and sends it to the concerned section.  There are separate sections for Sales Tax Appeals and Agricultural Income Tax Appeals.  The concerned section clerk examines the papers

1)  Name of the Department     :           Kerala Agricultural Income Tax & 

                                                            Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal

2)  Organizational Structure of the Department

Kerala Agricultural Income Tax & Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal has its Headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram and Addl. Benches at Kottayam, Ernakulam, Palakkad and Kozhikode.  The Additional Benches at Ernakulam consists of two Benches viz. Additional I and Additional II.

The Chairman of the Benches is common to all the Benches and the Chairman is the Head of the Department.  In all the Benches except Kottayam and Kozhikode, there are Members (Accounts).  Apart from this, there is a Member (Judicial) also in each of the Additional Benches.  Members (Departmental) are posted usually from among the Senior Deputy Commissioners of the Department of Commercial Taxes.  The Members (Accounts) are recruited by the Kerala Public Service Commission from among qualified Chartered Accountants.  There is a Confidential Assistant attached to the Chairman and all other Members.  The Confidential Assistant is responsible for the typing of orders dictated by the Chairman and the Members.

Secretary of the Tribunal is the head of the Ministerial Staff, having sufficient personnel under him.  Second Appeals are to be filled before the Tribunal on or before 60 days from the date of first appellate order pronounced by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner / Deputy Commissioner (Appeals).  The fees prescribed for filing of appeals are also follows :-

            1)  Filing of Appeal                           -           Rs.500/-

            2)  Stay Petition                               -           Rs.250/-

            3)  Petition for Condonation of delay  -           Rs.250/-

            4)  Petition for Urgent Hearing           -           Rs.250/-

            5)  Petition for Review                      -           Rs.500/-

thoroughly and enters the same in ‘A’ Register which is the permanent record of appeals containing all the movement of the appeal from receipt to disposal and dispatch of orders.  After due registration, the Section Clerk prepares an acknowledgement card, which has been kept printed, gets the signature of the Secretary and sends the same to the appellant.  A copy of the appeal memorandum together with its enclosures is sent to the Law Officer/State Representative with the signature of the Secretary in the forwarding letter.

If the appeal is found defective in any respect, a defect notice is prepared pointing out the defect and communicated to the appellant asking him to cure the defect within a reasonable time.  If the appeal is in order and if there is any Stay Petition or other petitions like Delay Condonation Petition etc., the appeal will be taken to file and the petition will be posted for hearing on a priority basis.  When an appeal or petition is posted for hearing, the files will be sent to the Bench Clerk after issuing notice to both parties, the appellant through his counsel, if any, and to the Law Officer.  If it is a State Appeal, the copy of the appeal memorandum with enclosures will be forwarded to the concerned assessee and he will be asked to file his Cross Objections, if desired, within the statutory period.  The forms of Cross Objections, if any, will be filed by the assessee in quadruplicate.

On the posting date, the appeal is taken before the Bench and if it is heard finally and taken for disposal, the files will be submitted to the concerned Member or Chairman, as the case may be, as allotted by the Presiding Member in the particular Bench.  Then the concerned Member/Chairman writes draft order in appeal and sends it for circulation among the Member/Members who heard the appeal.  After circulation of the draft order and approval of all the Members, one stretch of fair copy of the decision/order is taken by the Stenographer attached to the Chairman/Member.  Then the draft order, as approved by the Members, who heard the appeal, together with one stretch of copies are entrusted to the Clerk-cum-Examiner.  He takes sufficient copies of the order, either by typing or by taking Xerox  Copies, compares the orders with the approved draft and after entering into the register sends the files along with the original and copies of the order to the Clerical Attender.  He arranges the files, gives page numbers and stitches the files with the original order in the said file.  Then he enters the details in the register kept by him and submits the copies of the order with files to the Secretary for signature.  The Secretary after perusing the files and orders affix his signature and returns them to the Clerical Attender for dispatch to the concerned parties.

Copies of the orders are communicated to the appellant through counsel, if any, to the Law Officer with assessment and first appeal files, if any, handed over at the time of hearing of the appeal, to the concerned assessing authority, to the concerned first appellate authority, to the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner concerned, to the Deputy Commissioner concerned, to Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Thiruvananthapuram and also to the Deputy Commissioner (Law), Ernakulam.  A separate copy is kept in stock file also.  Thereafter,  the original Tribunal file stitched with the original of the Tribunal Order in the appeal and all other papers like orders in interlocutory petitions, etc., is entrusted to the relevant details in the appropriate columns of the ‘A’ Register.  He then sends back the files to the Clerical Attender for safe custody.  A disposed file of the Tribunal has to be kept for 12 years before destroyal.

3)  List and Addresses of area-wise officers :-

Thiruvananthapuram  (Headquarters Bench) -           T.C. 9/1260

                                                                          C.P.G.P. Lane

                                                                          Sasthamangalam

                                                                          Thiruvananthapuram

            1)  Chairman

            2)  Member (Departmental)

            3)  Member (Accounts)

            4)  Secretary

            5)  Asst. Secretary

Addl. Bench, Kottayam                                  -           Kallarackal Building

                                                                                                Miss East Road

                                                                                                Kottayam

            1)  Member (Judicial )                         -           Post lying vacant

            2)  Member (Departmental)

            3)  Asst. Secretary

Addl. Bench, Ernakulam                                    -           Commercial Taxes

                                                                                                Complex

                                                                                                Perumannoor.P.O

                                                                                                Ernakulam

            1)  Member (Judicial)

            2)  Member (Departmental), Addl. Bench – I

            3)  Member (Accounts)  Addl. Bench – I

            4)  Member (Departmental) Addl. Bench – II

            5)  Member (Accounts) Addl. Bench – II

            6)  Asst. Secretary

Addl. Bench, Palakkad                                         -           KAIT & STAT

                                                                                                Addl. Bench, Nurani.F

                                                                                                Palakkad

            1)  Member (Judicial)

            2)  Member (Departmental)

            3)  Member (Accounts)

            4)  Asst. Secretary

Addl. Bench, Kozhikode                                       -           KAIT & STAT

                                                                                                Addl. Bench, Cherootty Road

                                                                                                Kozhikode

            1)  Member (Judicial)

            2)  Member (Departmental)

            3)  Asst. Secretary

			Tel. (Off.)
4)	(1)	Chairman KAIT & STAT Tvpm	0471-313629
	(2)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Tvpm	313765
	(3)	Member (Accounts) KAIT & STAT Tvpm	314157
	(4)	Secretary KAIT & STAT Tvpm	313765
	(5)	Member (Judl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Kottayam	0481-551187
	(6)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Kottayam	-do-
	(7)	Asst. Secretary KAIT & STAT Addl.Bench Kottayam	0481-561187
	(8)	Member (Judl.) KAIT & STAT Addl.Bench Ernakulam	0484-369752
	(9)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Ernakulam	-do-
	(10)	Member (Accounts) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Ernakulam	-do-
	(11)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Ernakulam	-do-
	(12)	Member (Accounts) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Ernakulam	-do-
	(13)	Asst. Secretary KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Ernakulam	-do-
	(14)	Member (Judl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Palakkad	0491-538453
	(15)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Palakkad	-do-
	(16)	Member (Accounts) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Palakkad	-do-
	(17)	Asst. Secretary KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Palakkad	-do-
	(18)	Member (Judl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Kozhikode	0495-365724
	(19)	Member (Deptl.) KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Kozhikode	-do-
	(20)	Asst. Secretary KAIT & STAT Addl. Bench Kozhikode	-do-

 

6)  Application Forms & Details

(i)         Form No.28     - Form of Appeal Memorandum to the Appellate Tribunal

                                      (AIT Appeals)

(ii)        Form No.29     - Form of Memorandum of Cross Objections to the AIT

                                       Appellate Tribunal

(iii)       Form No.32     - Form of Appeal Memorandum to the Appellate Tribunal

                                      (S.T. Appeals)

(iv)       Form No.34     - Form of Memorandum of Cross Objections to the S.T

                                      Appellate Tribunal

7)  Achievement and Success Stories of the Department :

Due to the strenuous and sincere efforts on the part of the Chairman and other Members and the other staff of the Tribunal, the pendency of appeals before the Tribunal could be reduced considerably during the last three years.  This can be evidenced from the following :-

            No. of pending appeals as on 1-4-1999           -           21358

            No. of appeals disposed during 99-2000          -           6172

                                    -do-                    2000-01     -           9065

                                    -do-                    2001-02     -           7466

Thanks to the strict and specific instructions issued to the Members in this regard the pendency of appeals as on 1-4-2002 could be brought down to as low as 9202.