Reducing Delay In Revenue Litigation : Supreme Court Directs Integration Of ITAT, CETSTAT & Other Tribunals With Technology Adopted

The Supreme Court recently directed for integration of the technology adopted to streamline and monitor all stages in government revenue litigation , to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) and other Tribunals too.

Lauding the Committee constituted by the Centre for seamless integration at all stages of the revenue litigation involving the Union and Tribunals, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna in their order said, "Pursuant to the earlier direction, the Committee has undertaken a comprehensive exercise, which needs to be appreciated."

The Committee was further directed to coordinate with the President of the CESTAT to ensure that the same was achieved.

The Top Court on August 27, 2021 had constituted a Committee for the purpose of facilitating the objective of ensuring that the litigation involving the Union of India and Tribunals constituted under revenue legislation is duly monitored to provide seamless integration at all stages by adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Pursuant to Top Court's order Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh produced a note titled as "REDUCING DELAYS IN LITIGATION MANAGEMENT".

Note On Reducing Delays In Litigation Management

A. Stakeholders Of The Committee

As per the note, a Committee comprising the following stakeholders was constituted:

1. Shri Ashish J. Shiradhonkar, Sr. Technical Director, NIC
2. Shri Rajinder Kumar Kaul, Sr. Technical Director, NIC
3. Shri R.K. Srivastava, Addl. Legal Adviser, MoL&J
4. Shri Pankaj Jain, Additional Commissioner, Directorate of Legal Affairs, CBIC
5. Shri Gaurav Bansal, Joint Director, Supreme Court Cell, Directorate of Legal & Research, CBDT
6. Dr. N. Gandhi Kumar, Director (Coordination), Department of Revenue [Convenor]

Functions Of The Stakeholders

• guiding the changes required in LIMBS to make it more effective for litigation management, integrating LIMBS with e-office, universal adoption of LIMBS and e-office in the relevant offices under Department of Revenue
• ensuring integration of LIMBS with the IT system of Courts, Tribunals etc. including the e-Courts system of NIC
• suggesting changes in the IT solutions adopted in the Courts/Tribunals etc. that could significantly improve litigation management for suggesting other measures to remove roadblocks in efficient litigation management
• finalizing and operationalizing the effective system within three months from today and appraising the Supreme Court accordingly

Changes Introduced In Litigation Management System Of CBDT & CBIC

It was further mentioned in the note after having detailed deliberations with all the stakeholders including NIC, the following necessary changes were brought in the litigation management system of CBDT and CBIC using IT:

Recommendation 1 - Guiding the changes required in LIMBS Software to make it more effective for litigation management:

• LIMBS Portal has been re-designed in such a way that CBIC, CBDT would require to feed only minimum relevant data of the cases of High Courts and Tribunals on the LIMBS portal which would form the basic case data for SLP/Appeal initiation.
• Updating Case Number Record (CNR) using Case Type, Case Number, Case Year for each High court data record has been provisioned making updating very easy and CBIC/CBDT does not need to search for the same through other IT based systems. With the update of correct CNR Number, LIMBS Portal ensures connectivity with HCs servers for uncertified orders/ judgments, latest case status retrieval thus reducing the delay for SLP initiation for want of certified copies of judgments.
• The provisions have been made in the LIMBS portal that LIMBS software will automate the updating of High Court records from the High Court database as and when hearing takes place at the respective High Court (using correct CNR no). This will result in minimum human intervention and cut down delay in having information and then updating on the LIMBS portal.
• The records of High Court data in LIMBS will finally be updated manually (in case of wrong CNR number) or automatically including the disposal information, since the disposal and date of disposal information is vital for seeking advice internally and from DOLA/CAS.
• Feature has been developed in LIMBS to update records through Compliance Entry function in the situations of win or loss, since Win or Loss cannot be automated for initiating SLP proposals in LIMBS but is a must to be entered using a separate function developed in LIMBS.
• Provision has been made to sensitize CBIC and CBDT officers through SMS and on login into the LIMBS on the countdown in days for submission of proposal and advices within CBIC and CBDT and finally submission to DOLA/CAS which would cut down delay for initiating SLP/Appeals.
• A workflow based module for proposing SLP filing has been developed and rolled out for CBIC and CBDT officers to forward/mark them within CBIC and CBDT for their approval.
• It will cut down delays in seeking internal approval.
• Similarly, provision has been made in LIMBS for granting permission within CBIC and CBDT for seeking advice from DOLA/CAS. It will cut down delay for seeking internal approval for advice and from DOLA/CAS.

Recommendation 2 - Ensure integration of LIMBS with the IT system of Courts, Tribunals including e- Courts system of NIC

• Integration of LIMBS with the servers of High Courts have been achieved for updating LIMBS data using CNR no. to access/download the uncertified copies of Orders and Judgments except for a few High Courts which are not on NJDG. It will cut down delay in having Judgments for subsequent actions
• API for connecting/integration with ITAT server is being developed by IT personnel of ITAT. This will be implemented soon

Recommendation 3 - Guide the process of integration of LIMBS with e- office:

Integration of LIMBS with e-Office of DOLA and CAS has been achieved. Through this integration CBIC and CBDT will be able to know the pending status of the e-File submitted from LIMBS to DOLA/CAS at a particular time. Similarly, integration of LIMBS with the e-office of CBIC and CBDT has also been achieved. It will cut down delay in sending files to DOLA/CAS and also help to gather delays at different levels.

Recommendation 4 - Guide universal adoption of LIMBS and e-office in the relevant offices under Department of Revenue:

• Deliberations have been held between the committee members, LIMBS Team of NIC, DOLA for adoption of LIMBS and e-Office in CBIC and CBDT.
• The necessary access between CBIC, CBDT and DOLA/CAS have been established for having e-Office to e-Office advice file movement within CBIC and CBDT and finally with DOLA/CAS. Accordingly, CBDT and CBIC had started sending files through e-office to DOLA.
• Request has been made to CBIC and CBDT for creating login ids of concerned officers to bring them on the platform of LIMBS. Training has been given and is also planned for CBIC and CBDT officers in this regard. This will be helpful in easy and seamless transfer of advice files to cut down the delays.

Recommendation 5 - Suggest changes in the IT solutions adopted in the Courts/ Tribunals etc. that could significantly improve litigation management for suggesting other measures to remove roadblocks in efficient litigation management:

• It is suggested that a universal codification of Ministries, Departments and Sub-Departments be undertaken, so that the provision of entering such codes at the filing levels be undertaken for the Government cases at Tribunals and Hon'ble High Courts/Supreme Court.
• Necessary changes in the software of Tribunals, High Courts and Hon'ble Supreme Court be undertaken incorporating such codes.
• Through this exercise CBIC/CBDT will be able to receive certified and uncertified copies of Judgments and Orders within the fastest time possible, and directly into the email account of the concerned stakeholders thus helping cut down the delay in receiving such Orders/Judgments and acting on these for seeking advice from DOLA/CAS.
• The High Court litigation section of Delhi and Central Agency Section have also been brought on the same LIMBS platform for giving advice, drafting and filing of cases and finally generating bills for the advocates. CBIC and CBDT need to communicate the same LIMBS id to the litigation agency. This will enable the direct transfer of certified and uncertified copies from courts into the email accounts of the officer concerned for fast decision making for initiating SLP/Appeal.
• Certain High courts are not on NJDG (National Judicial Data Grid) so cannot update the records of the cases falling in those High courts on the LIMBS portal. Need to have all the High court's data on NJDG.
• Also API from SC needs to be arranged soon for POST SLP/Appeal information.

Recommendation 6 - The LIMBS SLP software modules have been developed and rolled out for different stakeholders."

Noting that since the Committee's work was an ongoing process the bench for monitoring compliance adjourned the matter to March 7, 2022.

Case Title: C.C.E. And S.T., Surat I V. Bilfinder Neo Structo Construction Ltd.

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