The Gujarat High Court has halted the Income Tax (I-T) department from recovering outstanding dues from five petitioner firms as their appeals are yet to be cleared by the commissioner of income tax (appeals).

Despite a pending appeal from the petitioner for the last four years, I-T officials were pressuring them for dues recovery.

The I-T department admitted before the court that there are more than 5.8 lakh appeals pending. Out of these, 3.9 lakh appeals are pending before the income tax commissioner (appeals) under the faceless system, 80,170 appeals are pending before the commissioner of income tax (appeals) under the non-faceless system, and 1.09 lakh appeals are pending before the joint commissioner of income tax (appeals).

The high court expressed disappointment regarding this issue. 

The court demanded answers from top officials of the I-T department, Central Board of Direct Taxes chairperson, finance secretary, and national Faceless Appeal Centre principal chief regarding the solution to the backlog.

The I-T department stated that under the faceless system, 279 commissioners, 64 commissioners under the non-faceless system, and 100 joint commissioners of income tax (appeals) have been assigned the task of disposing of these appeals. 

However, the high court noted that no steps have been taken to resolve 1,400 cases pending before the commissioner of income tax (appeals) under the faceless system, nor is there any clarity on how long they will be disposed of.

The HC also clarified that if the authorities have no interest in disposing of the pending appeals or reducing the backlog, then it can be said to be ‘a very serious and worrying matter’.