Income-tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Amendment Rules, 2010 - Amendment in rules 2,5,6,7,9 and insertion of rule 12A

 Income-tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Amendment Rules, 2010 - Amendment in rules 2,5,6,7,9 and insertion of rule 12A

Notification No. G.S.R. 820(E)

Dated 6-10-2010

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (7) of section 245F of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Income-tax Settlement Commission hereby makes the following further amendments in the Income-tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Rules, 1997, namely :—

1.       (1) These rules may be called the Income-tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Amendment Rules, 2010.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2.       In the Income-tax Settlement Commission (Procedure) Rules, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the 'said rules'), in rule 2,—

(i)       for clause (vi), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :—

(vi)      "Officer of the Commission" means Secretary, Director of Income-tax (Investigation), Additional Director of Income-tax (Investigation), Joint Director of Income-tax (Investigation), Deputy Director of Income-tax (Investigation) and Assistant Director of Income-tax (Investigation).';

(ii)      in clause (vii), after the words 'administrative officer', the words 'and a superintendent' shall be inserted.

3.       In rule 5 of the said rules,—

(i)       for sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely :—

" (1)    A settlement application shall be made by the applicant in person or his authorised representative, to the Secretary at the headquarters of the Commission at New Delhi or of the Bench within whose jurisdiction his case falls or to an officer authorised in this behalf by the Secretary, or shall be sent by registered post addressed to the Secretary, or to such officer."

(ii)       after sub-rule (2), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely:—

“(3)     The application shall be accompanied by a copy of self (-) attested challans or other documents as evidence in respect of payment of tax and interest by the applicant.”

4.       For rule 6 of the said rules, the following rule shall be substituted, namely :—

"6.     Report of the Commissioner under sub-section (2B) of Section 245D.—The Commissioner shall furnish seven copies of report referred to in sub-section (2B) of Section 245D, to the Commission and one copy to the applicant simultaneously.”

5.       For rule 7, the following rule shall be substituted, namely :—

"7.      Preparation of paper books, etc.—(1) If the applicant proposed to refer to or rely upon any documents or statements or other papers, during the course of hearing under sub-section (4) of Section 245D of the Act, he may submit seven copies of a paper books containing such papers duly indexed and numbered, within thirty days of the receipt of an order under sub-section (2C) of Section 245D, or within thirty days of the date by which the application was required to be declared invalid but has not been so declared :

Provided that the Commission may, in appropriate cases, condone the delay and admit the paper book.

(2)      If the Commissioner proposes to refer to or rely upon any documents or statements or other papers during the course of hearing under sub-section (4) of Section 245D of the Act, he may submit seven copies of a paper book containing such papers duly indexed and numbered along with his report referred to in rule 9.

(3)      The papers referred to in sub-rules (1) and (2) must be legibly written or type-written in double space or printed and each paper shall be certified as a true copy by the party filing the same, or his authorised representative and indexed in such a manner as to give a brief description of the documents, with page numbers and the authority before whom it was filed."

6.       For rule 9 of the said rules, the following rules shall be substituted, namely :—

9.       "Commissioner's further report—(1) Where an application has not been declared invalid under sub-section (2C) of Section 245D or an application has been allowed to be further proceeded with under sub-section (2D) of Section 245D, the information contained in the annexure and in the statements and other documents accompanying such annexure shall be sent to the Commissioner by the Commission with the direction that the Commissioner shall furnish a further report in seven copies within forty-five days of the receipt of said annexure or within such extended period as may be allowed by the Commission on a request made by the Commissioner.

(2)    If the Commissioner fails to furnish his report on or before the expiry of the specified period of forty-five days or within further extended period as the Commission may allow, as the case may be, the Commission may proceed to hear the case without such report.

(3)   A copy of the report of the Commissioner under sub-rule (1) of rule 9 shall be sent to the applicant by the Commission.

9A. Applicant's Comments on Commissioner's report under rule 9.—(1) The applicant may furnish comments on the Commissioner's report received under rule 9 within fifteen days of the receipt of the copy of the said report by him or within such extended period as may be allowed by the Commission on a written request made by the applicant.

(2)   The comments of the applicant shall be accompanied by a paper book in support thereof, having the specifications referred to in rule 7.

(3)   If the applicant fails to furnish comments on or before the expiry of the specified period of fifteen days or within further extended period under sub-rule (1), the Commission may proceed further with the case without such comments."

7.       After rule 12 of the said rules, the following rule shall be inserted, namely:—

"12A. Constitution of Two-member bench.— Where one of the member (whether such person be the Presiding Officer or other member of the bench) is unable to discharge his function on the bench under the circumstances referred to in sub-section (5) of Section 245BA, the remaining members with the approval of the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman, as the case may be, may function as a bench."