Section 255 of Income Tax Act "Procedure of Appellate Tribunal"
255. (1) The powers and functions of the Appellate
Tribunal may be exercised and discharged by Benches
constituted by the President of the Appellate Tribunal from
among the members thereof.
(2) Subject to the provisions contained in sub-section (3),
a Bench shall consist of one judicial member and one
accountant member.
(3) The President or any other member of the Appellate
Tribunal authorised in this behalf by the Central Government
may, sitting singly, dispose of any case which has been
allotted to the Bench of which he is a member and which
pertains to an assessee whose total income as computed by
the Assessing Officer in the case does not exceed fifty lakh
rupees, and the President may, for the disposal of any
particular case, constitute a Special Bench consisting of
three or more members, one of whom shall necessarily be a
judicial member and one an accountant member.
(4) If the members of a Bench differ in opinion on any
point, the point shall be decided according to the opinion
of the majority, if there is a majority, but if the members
are equally divided, they shall state the point or points on
which they differ, and the case shall be referred by the
President of the Appellate Tribunal for hearing on such
point or points by one or more of the other members of the
Appellate Tribunal, and such point or points shall be
decided according to the opinion of the majority of the
members of the Appellate Tribunal who have heard the case,
including those who first heard it.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Appellate
Tribunal shall have power to regulate its own procedure and
the procedure of Benches thereof in all matters arising out
of the exercise of its powers or of the discharge of its
functions, including the places at which the Benches shall
hold their sittings.
(6) The Appellate Tribunal shall, for the purpose of
discharging its functions, have all the powers which are
vested in the income-tax authorities referred to in section
131, and any proceeding before the Appellate Tribunal shall
be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of
sections 193 and 228 and for the purpose of section 196 of
the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), and the Appellate
Tribunal shall be deemed to be a civil court for all the
purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXXV of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898).
256. (1) The assessee or the Principal Commissioner or
Commissioner may, within sixty days of the date upon which
he is served with notice of an order passed before the 1st
day of October, 1998, under section 254, by application in
the prescribed form, accompanied where the application is
made by the assessee by a fee of two hundred rupees, require
the Appellate Tribunal to refer to the High Court any
question of law arising out of such order and, subject to
the other provisions contained in this section, the
Appellate Tribunal shall, within one hundred and twenty days
of the receipt of such application, draw up a statement of
the case and refer it to the High Court :
Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, if it is satisfied
that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from
presenting the application within the period hereinbefore
specified, allow it to be presented within a further period
not exceeding thirty days.
(2) If, on an application made under sub-section (1), the
Appellate Tribunal refuses to state the case on the ground
that no question of law arises, the assessee or the
Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be,
may, within six months from the date on which he is served
with notice of such refusal, apply to the High Court, and
the High Court may, if it is not satisfied with the
correctness of the decision of the Appellate Tribunal,
require the Appellate Tribunal to state the case and to
refer it, and on receipt of any such requisition, the
Appellate Tribunal shall state the case and refer it
accordingly.
(2A) The High Court may admit an application after the
expiry of the period of six months referred to in
sub-section (2), if it is satisfied that there was
sufficient cause for not filing the same within that period.
(3) Where in the exercise of its powers under sub-section
(2), the Appellate Tribunal refuses to state a case which it
has been required by the assessee to state, the assessee
may, within thirty days from the date on which he receives
notice of such refusal, withdraw his application, and, if he
does so, the fee paid shall be refunded.