Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Chennai
Rbf Nidhi Limited, Chennai vs Assessee on 16 November, 2007
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
CHENNAI BENCH 'B' : CHENNAI
[BEFORE SHRI HARI OM MARATHA, JUDICIAL MEMBER
AND SHRI ABRAHAM P GEORGE, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER]
M.A.Nos. 47 to 51/Mds/2008
[Arising out of I .T.A Nos.629/Mds/2001 & 1636/Mds/2002
Assessment years : 1997-98 and 1996-96
Interest Tax Appeal Nos. 117/Mds/2002, 162 & 163/Mds/2003
Assessment years : 1997-98 to 1999-2000]
M/s RBF Nidhi Ltd vs The Dy. CIT
8, West Cott Road Company Circle V(3)
Royapettah Chennai
Chennai 600 014
(Applicant) (Respondent)
Applicant by : Smt Rupa J. Tharayil
Respondent by : Shri Shaji P. Jacob
ORDER
PER HARI OM MARATHA, JM:
These miscellaneous applications are directed against the order of the Tribunal dated 16.11.2007. The applicant is a company in respect of which certain proceedings were pending before the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Madras, who had directed for the appointment of the Official Liquidator to take over the assets of the company. Pursuant to the said order, the Official Liquidator took over the assets of the company and the management. It is stated in para 3 of the application that the Hon'ble High Court made an order dated 21.8.2007 on application No.1278 of 2006 as under: :- 2 -: M.A 47 to 51/08
" Accordingly, the Official Liquidator as well as the Committee shall act in the following manner:
(i) The Committee shall continue to process the pending case against the Nidhi in Liquidation in any forum by engaging the counsel of their choice.
(ii) The Committee shall continue to pay the salaries of the employees and incur incidental and other expenses for day to day administration.
(iii) Dispose of capital assets to be done only by the Official Liquidator who will get valuation done by ITCOT or any other agencies as approved by this Court.
(iv) Other statutory dues to the Government or any other expenses shall be paid by the committee directly.
(v) For any other clarifications the Official Liquidator as well as the Committee shall approach the Court and get appropriate orders.
(vi) With the above directions this application is disposed of."
2. The Tribunal has sent a notice to the Official Liquidator but the Official Liquidator, despite service of notice, did not come present on the date(s) of hearing given by the Tribunal, but on some of the dates, assessee's counsel appeared and sought adjournments. Since the Official Liquidator, despite service, did not come present and lot of adjournments have already been given, the Tribunal thought it justified to dismiss the appeals with the observation that subsequently after showing good reasons, the applicant shall have the liberty to seek restoration of the appeals if it so deem fit. Now, it has been pleaded that the assessee is keen and interested in pursuing the appeals and :- 3 -: M.A 47 to 51/08 was also pursuing earlier and the matter was being adjourned only to secure the presence of the Official Liquidator. According to this petition, the Hon'ble High Court has demarcated the powers of management between the Official Liquidator and the Committee of Management. Since the right to pursue the legal proceedings has been given to the Committee of Management, the presence of Official Liquidator is not obligatory. In view of the above circumstances, it is pleaded that the Committee of Management is desirous of pursuing the appeals and it is necessary that the petitioner who is represented by its Committee of Management should be permitted to pursue the appeals before the Tribunal . In the backdrop of these facts and circumstances of the case, it has been pleaded that the Tribunal order should be recalled and the appeals should be heard on their merits.
3. On the other hand, the ld.DR has also not objected to the above submission of the assessee because the Tribunal has itself permitted the assessee to get the recall of the order and restoration of the appeals.
4. After going through the Tribunal order and the oral submissions as well as the grounds raised in this petition, we are convinced that this is a fit case for recall of the order of the Tribunal dated 16.11.2007. The applicant has shown good and reasonable cause for non- appearance. We, therefore, restore the appeals to their original :- 4 -: M.A 47 to 51/08 number and direct the registry to re-fix the appeals for hearing on their merits, in due course.
5. In the result, all the miscellaneous petitions are allowed Order pronounced in the open court on 22.10.2010.
Sd/- Sd/- (ABRAHAM P GEORGE) ( HARI OM MARATHA ) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER JUDICIAL MEMBER Dated: 22nd October,2010 RD
Copy to: Applicant/Respondent/CIT(A)/CIT/DR