Physical hearings to start post Diwali in ITAT Mumbai
Placed below is a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which has been formulates to conduct physical hearings in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Benches from 23 November, 2020.
Physical hearing in the ITAT, Mumbai
- Effective 23 November, 2020, physical hearings will start in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai benches.
- Out of 12 benches, 3 benches, by rotation, will work in physical mode one week every month. In effect, three benches will be functioning in physical formats every week.
- The cases fixed in response to requests for physical hearings in each bench will be taken up in the week earmarked for physical hearing of that bench that moth or, when it is not so possible, in the subsequent month.
- The matters taken up in physical hearing will be the matters falling in the following categories:
- Stay ranted matters;
- Early hearing matters;
- The matters in which both the parties have given consent for physical hearing; and
- All such matters which are directed, by Hon’ble President, to be fixed before the benches for physical hearings;
- All the stay granted matters/ early hearing matters posted before the benches, unless heard in the virtual benches, will be taken up in the week earmarked for physical hearing in that month or in the subsequent month
- To ensure safety, following measures are being taken:
- Not more than six persons (other than Hon’ble President/ Vice Presidents/Members bench, bench clerk and court jamadar) will be permitted at any point of time. her persons will wait in the adjoining court. rooms, but, even in the adjoining rooms, not more than 10 persons, with adequate social distancing, will sit at any of time.
- The court will be sanitized every morning an hour before the court functioning starts, and none, including the court staff, will, be permitted to use the court rooms for any other purposes except actual judicial functioning of the bench. Immediately after the judicial functioning is over, the bench clerk will vacate the room, and do any related work i including handling: of related files and supporting work, from one of the adjoining court rooms earmarked for this purpose.
- Each court room will have a register, which will have details and time of sanitization of the court room every day, and, in addition thereto, names, phone numbers and. temperature of every person entering the court room every day.
- Prior to starting physical functioning of court room, public address system, and fiber glass partitioning for the bench, the bend clerk, departmental representative and the arguing counsel, will be installed in each Court room.
- Sanitizers will be placed on the desks of all the functionaries in the court rooms, and it will be mandatory to use sanitizers before the court room functioning starts, and after the court room functioning ends.
- The cases involving not more than five assesses (,irrespective of number of appeals involved) will be listed before the bench every working day. Wherever, for any reasons, the cases of more than five assessees are listed, the time of hearing will be staggered inasmuch as not more than five such matters will be listed at any specific point of time.
- Income Tax Appellate Tribunal will take such additional safety measures as may be deemed necessary, from time to time, in the light of guidance of the Government authorities, in the light of inputs from the stakeholders, or in the light of the developing pandemic situation.
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