EPFO Appeal Maintainability Itat
EPFO Appeal Maintainability Itat
ORDER
PER BENCH:
The assessee i.e. the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization has filed
the present appeals impugning the order of learned CIT(A), Noida, dated 20th
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2.1 The assessee i.e. the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization was set up
under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
2.2 The learned Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (TDS), Noida passed
an order dated 31st March, 2014 under Section 201(1) of Income Tax Act, 1961
(for short “the Act”) holding the assessee in default for not deducting the tax at
balance under Rule 9, 10 of part A of Schedule IV of the I.T. Act, 1961. The
assessee is held to be in default u/s 201(1) of the I.T. Act, 1961 and the total
liability u/s 201(1) is Rs. 337,009,802/-, Rs. 208,717,439/- and Rs. 78,135,967/-
2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively. Further, the liability of interest u/s
2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, relevant to the assessment years 2011-12, 2012-
3. Aggrieved by the order, an appeal was filed before the learned CIT(A),
Noida, and the same is pending disposal. Meanwhile, the assessee moved stay
applications before the learned CIT(A) praying for stay of the demand in
disposed of the stay application directing the assessee to file the stay petition
15, dated 19.03.2015. Aggrieved by this order, the present appeals were filed
before this Tribunal in Form no. 36 after depositing the requisite fees praying,
4. Before dealing with the merits of the appeal, it is fit and proper to
adjudicate whether these appeals are maintainable at all. Therefore, we deal with
unless the statute specifically provides for it. Section 253 of the Act provides
that for the kinds of order appealable before this Income Tax Appellate
“Section 253:-
(1) Any assessee aggrieved by any of the following orders may appeal to
the Appellate Tribunal against such order
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appealable before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. Therefore, we are now
required to examine whether the impugned order is passed under Section 250 of
the Act or not. The provisions of Income Tax Act do not expressly provide the
power of stay with the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals). However, the
several Hon’ble High Courts following the ratio laid down by the Hon’ble Apex
Court in the case of ITO Vs. M.K. Mohammad Kunhi, 71 ITR 815 (SC) has held
that the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has inherent power to stay the
demand when the appeal is pending for disposal before him. Regarding this, few
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7. Therefore, now the law is well settled that the first appellate authority i.e.
this power, learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has passed the
impugned order obviously, under the provisions of Section 250 of the Act since
there is no other provision of the Act under which Commissioner of Income Tax
(Appeals) can pass the order. It is well settled that the order need not be an order
(1986) 2 APLJ (SC) 25]. The term ‘order’ has not been defined under the
Therefore, having held that the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has
passed the order under Section 250 of the Act, in our considered opinion, the
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appeal is clearly maintainable under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 253
of the Act.
8. Having held that the appeal is maintainable, we shall now deal with the
9. The learned Authorized Representative had argued that the appellant has
strong prima facie case, inasmuch as, the provisions of Rules 8 and 9 of Part I of
Schedule IV of the Act are not applicable to statutory fund created under the
provisions of P.F. Act. He further submitted that the assessee organization is set
stay is not granted, the interest of several employees shall be adversely affected.
opposed the stay and submitted that the assessee should approach the Assessing
11. After considering the rival submission, we are of the view that the
mere perusal of IVth Schedule of the Act, it seems that the provision of IVth
Schedule may not be applicable to the Provident Fund Organization which are
set up under the Provident Fund Act. Admittedly, the assessee organization is
set up under the provisions of Provident Fund Act. Therefore, the order passed
Keeping in view the interest of the employees as well as the spirit of CBDT
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Circulars and Instructions, we deem it fit case to grant the stay of demand till the
1. Since we have granted full stay of demand vide our order passed in I.T.A
Nos. 1766 to 1768/Del/2015, hence all the stay petitions are dismissed in limine
as infructuous.
Sd/- Sd/-
(G.C. GUPTA) (INTURI RAMA RAO)
VICE PRESIDENT ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
Dated: 10th April, 2015
Rk/-
Copy forwarded to:
1. Appellant
2. Respondent
3. CIT
4. CIT(Appeals)
5. DR: ITAT
ASSISTANT REGISTRAR
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