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MINUTES OF MEETING HON'BLE SHRI J. P. BENGRA, VICE - PRESIDENT HAD ON 7-9-2000 WITH MEMBERS OF THE ITAT BAR ASSOCIATION

	Points	Decision/Action taken
1.	Appeal memos & grounds of Appeal
1.1	In a number of cases, appeal memos of the department are not received in advance only notice are received.	Appeal section will ensure that mention is made in the notices about the date on which the appeal memo was served.
2.	No. of Appeal & bench
2.1	When an appeal is filed along with acknowledgement, official No. and bench may be informed	Appeal number should be given to the parties after two days from the filing of the appeal. It is the duty of the assessee or his representative to collect the appeal number within three days from the filing of the appeal.
2.	Notice of hearing
2.1	Where notice for hearing are not received giving sufficient time for preparation, adjournments are required to be sought for	Normally 21 days notice is given to the parties. In urgent matters short notice is given on the request of the assessees. This practice is being followed.
2.2	Cross appeals for the department and the assessee for the same assessment year should be fixed before the same bench on the same day	This practice is being followed normally.
3.	Priority matters
3.1	On application by the appellant, the following appeals may be taken up on priority basis
(a)	Appeals against order u/s. 263 by the CIT [Admn.] and appeals against the Order of CIT (Appeals) setting aside the order of the Assessing Officer.	At the time of filing appeal assessee shall preferably give an application informing that the appeal is filed against order u/s. 263. Otherwise the Registry will hereafter sort out such appeals to be posted on priority basis and seek permission from the Vice President for posting them.
(b)	Appeals against Block Assessment Orders	All the Block Assessment appeals will be fixed on priority basis on making application by the aggrieved party.
(c)	Appeals relating to covered matters	Appeals fully covered by earlier decisions are being fixed on priority basis.
(d)	High demand matter (more than 1 cr.)	High demand matters in general cannot be given priority. However in an appropriate case, on an application, the matter will be considered.
(e)	Matters relating to KVSS.	In all those appeals which are being disposed of under KVSS, application will be given by the assessee informing this fact and the matter will be posted for hearing on priority basis before the Bench.
3.2	Misc. Applications be heard at the earliest on priority basis.	MAs are being posted on priority basis. However if there is any assessee whose MA has not been fixed, he can inform the Tribunal.
4.	Appellate Orders
4.1	There is considerable delay in passing of the appellate order and further delay in receipt of the order.	There is no delay in passing appellate orders. There are already instructions that appeals should be disposed of within the next month after the hearing is over.
		From the date of passing the order,, the order should be dispatched to the postal authorities within 15 days.
4.2	In case of very heavy matters, the remaining Board may be discharged and a suitable date may be given to save time of other representatives.	No comments. However the Bench is already aware of this procedure.
5.	Applications
5.1	All applications made to the Tribunal should be referred to the Hon'ble Vice-President and the ITAT office staff should not sit in judgment whether to accept the same or reject it outright.	All applications for adjournment received on the date of hearing should be moved before the Bench itself. No application will be received on the date of hearing in the Office. Applications received on a day prior to the date of hearing may be presented to the Office and the Office will mention the date and time of receipt and will also give instructions to the persons who have brought the applications to be present in the Court on the date of hearing.
		All letters should be accepted and presented before the Bench.
6.	Infrastructure
	Adequate furnishing by providing new airconditioners, chairs and side racks, etc. may be provided to Court Rooms.	The matter should be discussed by the Bar with the Hon'ble President.
7.	Vacation
	During Summer and Diwali vacations as declared by the High Court, adjournments may be liberally granted on necessary application being made in this regard.	Normally we are following the practice and adjournments are liberally granted during summer and Diwali holidays.
8.	Paper book
1.	If other side has no objection the paper book filed even at the time of hearing may be accepted	Paper books are being accepted. If the Department is objecting at the time of hearing, the cases are adjourned.
2.	The paper book filed even one-day in advance may be accepted at the registry.	Ditto
3.	In departmental Appeal the assessees should not be asked to for file of a paper Book.	In departmental appeal the Bench is not asking assessee to file paper book.
4.	Wherever Paper Book is filed in advance the same is misplaced invariably and not found in the members file.	The Registry is directed to keep the paper book filed by the assessee in the record when it is filed in the Registry.
9.	Stay
1.	Stay order may be passed and issued on the day of hearing itself or the next working day.	Stay matters should be disposed of within three working days of hearing.
2.	Stay application where an emergency exists may be put up immediately before a sitting Bench as early as possible.	On informing that there is an emergency, stay petition may be fixed on a working day if Friday is a holiday.
10.	Roll call of matters - priority
a)	Adjournments	This practice is generally being followed.
b)	Covered matters
c)	Stay application matters
d)	Stay granted matters
e)	Other matter where Counsel CAs are present
f)	Ex parte matter
11.	Transfer of cases from SMC to Division Bench
	On number of occasions the matters fixed before the SMC's are to division bench. As far as possible such a transfer may be avoided. When adjourned or re-fixed again the same may be reverted back to SMC.	Already implemented.
12.	Matter referred to third member
	In case of difference of opinion in orders of members, appellants are not informed by the office, that matter has been referred to third member. Parties may be informed of the same and copies of conflicting orders given.	In case of difference of opinion between two members, the assessee should be informed by the office that the matter has been referred to the President for appointing a third member.
13.	Adjournment
1.	When a counsel is appearing before another Bench or representing matters before High Court, the matters may be kept back or adjournment may be granted.	Generally this practice is being adopted by the Bench. However, no direction can be given as this is a judicial matter.
2.	When an application for adjournment was filed as least fifteen days in advance the decision may be informed to the assessee at the earliest.	Registry is directed to put up all those applications seeking adjournments which have been moved 15 days before the date of hearing so that orders may be passed by the VP.
14.	Information about matters referred and date fixed for hearing of special bench matters.	This is a matter to be discussed by the Bar with the Hon'ble President.
	Our association may be informed about the matters referred to Special Bench and date fixed for hearing of the Special Bench matters of all the zones.
15.	Publication of Tribunal judgements
1.	One copy of judgements of the Tribunal may be given to the Bar Association for circulation among the members.	This requires amendment of the rules. Therefore the members of the Bar may discuss this matter with the Hon'ble President.
2.	List of judgements of all the zones which are fit for publication may be given to the Bar Association.	Ditto
16.	Waiting room for litigants
	Use of the room adjacent to the Bar Association room may be given as litigant waiting room.	This is a matter to be discussed by the Bar with the Hon'ble President.
17.	Computerisation
	The services of computer may be made available for preparation of the weekly Board, printing of appellate orders and issuing acknowledgments for receipt of appeal memos.	Study is already going on in Delhi regarding facilities of computerisation. We will wait for the result of the study.
18.	Quarterly meeting
	At least once in three months meeting may be held with President and Vice-President for discussing administrative matters.	Half Yearly meetings may be held.