Commissioner of Income Tax vs P.N.B. Housing Finance Ltd.

We haves been adjourning this matter in order to enable Mr. U.D. Jolly, Sr. Standing Counsel for the Revenue to state whether COD clearance has been applied for by the Appellant. He submits that he is unable to state the date on which COD clearance has been applied for. The however, contends that since the Respondents had applied for and obtained COD clearance when they filed the appeal before the ITAT, no fresh COD clearance is required for filing the present appeal. We have dealt with the issue of obtaining COD clearance in some detail in ITA No. 1417/2006 titled Punjab & Sindh Bank v. Dy. CIT vide Order dated 19th October, 2006.

So far as the contention raised before us today is concerned we have perused the Order dated 7-1-1994 of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in Oil and Natural Gas Commission Vs. Collector of Central Excise, and are in no doubt that COD clearance is mandatory at every stage of the litigation. In the words of Supreme Court "it is abundantly clear that the machinery contemplated is only to ensure that no litigation comes to Court without the parties having had an opportunity of conciliation before an in-house committee." In this very judgment it has been observed that - "wherever appeals, petitions, etc., are filed without the clearance of the and High-Powered Committee so as to save limitation, the appellant or the petitioner, as the case may be, shall within a month from such filing, refer the matter to the High-Powered Committee, with prior notice to the designated authority in the Cabinet Secretarial....." These observations have been reiterated in Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. Vs. Chairman, Central Board, Direct Taxes and Another, . If the appellant here had approached the COD for its clearance we are certain that the COD would have examined the impugned order and in the context either allowed or declined the clearance. Since no COD clearance has been obtained, the appeal is dismissed.