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New Delhi , Dec. 8

THE Government today introduced the National Tax Tribunal (NTT) Bill, 2003 in the Lok Sabha for the establishment of the NTT.

It will hear cases involving "substantial questions of law" arising from orders passed in appeal by the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunals (ITAT) and the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunals (CESTAT).

Hitherto, all orders passed by the ITAT and CESTAT could be appealed against only in the High Courts, even if they involved substantial questions of law. According to the Government, this had led to a large number of pending cases before the High Court, causing huge blockage of revenues in litigation.

With the establishment of the NTT, any assessee or tax official of Commissioner/Chief Commissioner rank, aggrieved by the orders passed the ITAT or CESTAT, can file an appeal to the NTT within 120 days from the date of receipt of the order. The appeal shall be in the form of a memorandum of appeal precisely stating therein the "substantial question of aw involved".

Once the appeal is admitted, the NTT would, then, formulate the question of law for hearing the appeal and also determine any relevant issue in this connection.

Significantly, the NTT Bill, 2003 - which seeks to replace the NTT Ordinance, 2003, promulgated on October 16 - provides that in any appeal where the decision of the ITAT or the CESTAT involves the payment of any tax or duties, the assessee or the aggrieved person will have to deposit at least 25 per cent of the liability amount involved.

The NTT, however, has the power to dispense with this requirement so long as sufficient conditions are imposed to safeguard revenue benches.

The Bill proposes to set up 15 NTT benches for direct taxes and 10 benches for indirect tax matters, which, it is felt, would be enough to ensure that the cases transferred from the High Courts are disposed of quickly. The Government has assumed total expenditure per bench and its staff requirements at Rs 31.51 lakh per annum, which translates into a total expenditure of Rs 7.88 crore for 25 benches. Besides, a one-time budget of Rs 6.88 crore is envisaged for setting up the infrastructure required.

The NTT would be headed by a Chairperson, who had held the post of a Supreme Court Judge or High Court Chief Justice. Each NTT bench would have a judicial member and a technical member.

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