Tribunal faced strong criticism for not following the judgment

 Tribunal faced strong criticism for not following the judgment

IT : Tribunal faced strong criticism for not following the judgment of jurisdictional High Court given in the case of the petitioner itself for an earlier Assessment Year on identical issue of applicability of Section 14A of the Act to partially disallow interest expenditure when interest free funds available with the Petitioner are in excess of investments made in tax free securities. 


• It was held by High Court that all authorities within the State are bound to follow its order unless the same is stayed or set aside by the apex court or larger bench take a different view. If the Tribunal doesn't follow this discipline, it would result in uncertainty of the law and confusion among the taxpayers as to what are their obligations under the Act. Besides opening the gates for arbitrary action in the administration of law, as each authority would then decide disregarding the binding precedents leading to complete chaos and anarchy in the administration of law. Hence, it is not open to the Tribunal to disregard the binding decisions of this Court. 

[2016] 67 taxmann.com 42 (Bombay) 
HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY 
HDFC Bank Ltd. 
v. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax -2(3), Mumbai