ITAT, Kolkata celebrates its 78th Foundation Day

78th Foundation Day of ITAT (Income Tax Appellate Tribunal) was celebrated with great fanfare at its Kolkata Office on 25^th June. In pursuance of the recommendation made by the Select Committee, the Legislature introduced Section 5A in the Indian Income Tax Act’1941 and 25th January 1941 was notified as the appointment date from which the income Tax Appellate Tribunal came into existence.

After the initial prayer and lighting of the traditional lap by the dignitaries, Shri P.M. Jagtap, Vice President, Kolkata Zone, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal welcomed all the guests and appraised the gathering of the successful functioning of the ITAT especially the Kolkata Benches in his keynote address. He very significantly pointed out that 4 Benches of ITAT have been regularly functioning at Kolkata and the pendency of appeals with Kolkata Benches has come down from 7215 appeals in October’2015 to 3881 appeals in December’2018.

He also informed the audience about the e-Court functioning of the ITAT in Kolkata and pointed out that the setup of e-Court in Kolkata is ready to start hearing the cases of Guwahati, Patna and Ranchi Benches by Kolkata Benches through Video Conferencing. This will tremendously help speed up justice delivery.

The event was also used to facilitate retired members of the Tribunal, who are settled in Kolkata and the professions, who have completed 50 years of practice before the ITAT.

Chief Guest Smt. Seema Khurana Patra, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (West Bengal & Sikkim) lauded the contribution of the ITAT. Shri S. K. Tulsiyan, President, Income Tax Bar Association, Kolkata was the Guest of Honour. The event ended with vote of thanks by Shri J Sudhakar Reddy, Senior Member of Kolkata Benches.                                         –Hello Kolkata Network