KEC International Limited vs. ACIT (ITAT Mumbai)
The assessee filed a stay application before the Tribunal. The Department opposed by relying on the observations of the Supreme Court in CCE vs. Dunlop India 154 ITR 172 (SC) and contended that as paucity of funds had not been sufficiently demonstrated, for this reason alone stay should not be granted. HELD rejecting the Department’s contention and granting stay while following B. N. Nobis & Co vs. JCIT 71 TTJ 153 (Kol):
(i) While the Supreme Court has decried ‘the practice of granting interim orders merely because assessee is able to show a good prima facie case’, the observations have to be understood in the context of the case which was one of indirect taxation where the burden had already been passed on to the consumer. Also it was a case of a Writ Petition under Article 226 & not that of an appellate jurisdiction. The observations of the Supreme Court in the context of grant of stay in writ proceedings does not have binding force on, or even direct relevance to, the principles governing grant of stay during appellate proceedings though it does provide guidance on principles governing the decision to grant stay;
