TMI Blog1994 (5) TMI 21X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Civil Writ No. 926 of 1994 relates to the assessment year 1983-84. The Tribunal passed its appellate order under section 254(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, on September 26, 1989, rejecting the Department's appeal Income-tax Appeal No. 5886 of 1986/(Delhi) and thereafter the Department filed an application for reference under section 256(1) as Application No. 346/(Delhi) of 1990 but the same was dismissed as time-barred on August 27, 1990. The Department filed a miscellaneous application on April 25, 1991, to recall the order dated August 27, 1990, on the ground that the date of commencement for computation of limitation for filing reference was wrongly computed, that the limitation started from the date on which the appellate order was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eliance for this purpose is placed upon the judgment of this court in CIT v. Arvind Construction Co. (P.) Ltd. [1992] 193 ITR 330, delivered on January 24, 1991. Learned counsel for the first respondent-assessee raised an objection that the Commissioner of Income-tax cannot be permitted to raise the question by way of a belated writ petition filed on January 12, 1994 (or December 1993 in the other writ), to question the orders of the Tribunal dated August 27, 1990, relying on Arvind Construction's case [1992] 193 ITR 330 (Delhi), dated January 24, 1991, and cannot be permitted to approach this court after nearly three years and the writ petitions are liable to be dismissed on the ground of laches. It is pointed out that similar applicatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons in 1994. After giving our anxious consideration to the abovesaid question and after hearing lengthy arguments, we are of the view that the petitioner is guilty of laches of nearly three years and the writ petitions are liable to be dismissed on that ground, for the following reasons. We shall take the facts in Civil Writ No. 926 of 1994. Admittedly, the Tribunal dismissed the Commissioner of Income-tax's appeal Income-tax Appeal No. 5886/(Delhi) of 1986, on September 26, 1989, for the assessment years 1983-84 under section 254(1). The said order was served on the Department, as per the procedure then followed and the Department filed its reference application under section 256(1). Time was to be computed from the date on which the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or "recall" must be deemed to have been filed invoking the inherent powers of the Tribunal and in exercise of that power, earlier orders refusing to refer the matters under section 256(1) could be recalled. As pointed out above, there is no provision in section 256 enabling the Tribunal to "rectify" its order passed under section 256(1) as in the case of appellate orders passed under section 254(1). In section 256, there is no clause corresponding to section 254(2), passed under section 254(1). Then the question is whether the same result could be achieved by exercise of inherent powers or incidental powers. In our view, even under the inherent powers, the Tribunal cannot recall an order passed under section 256(1) (refusing to refer a ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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