CIT(A) couldn’t rely on ruling of non-jurisdictional HC ifjurisdictional HC’s ruling was available on record

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CIT(A) couldn’t rely on ruling of non-jurisdictional HC ifjurisdictional HC’s ruling was available on record

INCOME-TAX : When decision of jurisdictional High Court was available on issue of addition under section 36(1) (va), Commissioner (Appeals) erred in relying upon decision of non-jurisdictional High Court ignoring binding precedent available

[2019] 109 taxmann.com 424 (Chandigarh – Trib.),

Gilco Exports Ltd. v. ACIT, Circle 2(1)

SMT. DIVA SINGH, JUDICIAL MEMBER
AND SMT. ANNAPURNA GUPTA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
IT APPEAL NO. 1244 (CHD.) OF 2018
[ASSESSMENT YEAR 2013-14] JULY 31, 2019

It is well settled that the decision of a High Court will have the force of binding precedent only in the State or territories on which the Court has jurisdiction. In other States or outside the territorial jurisdiction of that High Court it may, at best, have persuasive value for other High Courts. However, as far as the Tribunal is concerned, a lone decision of any High Court of the country being higher in hierarchy in the scheme of things becomes a binding precedent for the Tribunal wherever the bench of the Tribunal may be situated. However, at the same time in the face of the decision of the jurisdictional High Court no amount of stretching of the doctrine of stare decisis, can judgments of one High Court be given the status of a binding precedent so far as other High Courts or Tribunal within their territorial jurisdiction are concerned. It is well settled that any such attempt will go counter to the very doctrine of stare decisis and also the various decisions of the Supreme Court which have interpreted the scope and ambit thereof. The issue as far as the present proceedings are concerned, can be said to have been addressed by the said decision. In the facts of the instant case, there is a decision of the jurisdictional High Court which stands in the eyes of law and there is also a decision of the non-jurisdictional High Court on which the Commissioner (Appeals) has placed reliance. Considering the fact that the assessee is within the territorial jurisdiction of the Punjab & Haryana High Court and the Commissioner (Appeals) an authority also within the territorial jurisdiction of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, it is found that the Commissioner (Appeals) in the facts of the instant case has erred in relying upon the decision of the non-jurisdictional High Court ignoring the binding precedent available. [Para 4.2]

The Commissioner (Appeals) has erred in ignoring the decision of the jurisdictional High Court on the issue and relying upon the decision of the non-jurisdictional High Court when he was duty bound to follow the binding precedent available of the jurisdictional High Court in the case of Hemla Embroidery Mills (P.) Ltd. (supra) which decision stands in the eyes of law as on date. Accordingly, the ground raised by the assessee is allowed. [Para 5]

 

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