SC imposes Rs 10 lakh cost on I-T department

The Supreme Court has imposed Rs 10 lakh cost on the Income Tax department for “misleading” it.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S A Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said the court was "shocked" at the attempts made by the Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT), Ghaziabad to present "false and misleading" facts before the highest court of the land.

“We are shocked that the Union of India through the Commissioner of Income Tax has taken the matter so casually,” the bench said.

The top court found that the CIT maintained that a similar case was already pending before it. The counsel said the fresh case should be tagged along with the previous matter which was pending since 2012.

The court, however, noted that the previous case was decided as far back as in September 2012.

"In other words, the petitioners have given a totally misleading statement before this court," the bench said.

The court also found that the CIT could not explain the delay of 596 days in filing the petition.

The court directed for depositing of Rs 10 lakh cost to the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks.