Revenue Tribunal halts verdict issuance

KATHMANDU, APR 30 -

The Revenue Tribunal has halted issuing verdict on revenue evasion cases

for the last one week as the new two members sent by the Finance Ministry are yet to attend the office.

The ministry last week transferred Laxman Aryal, deputy director general of Department of Customs, and another official Hari Pokharel to the tribunal.

Aryal’s transfer invited controversy as he had previously worked as an investigation officer on the multi-billion fake value added tax (VAT) bill scandal when he was deputy director general of the Inland Revenue Department. As the convicts who are not satisfied with the decision of the revenue office apply at the tribunal for a review, Aryal’s presence as member in the quasi-judicial body would be against the judicial norms. Therefore, whether Aryal would serve as the tribunal’s member is uncertain.

“In the absence of the newly appointed members, not a single verdict has been issued for the last week,” said Bishnu Aryal, registrar at the tribunal. “Otherwise, the tribunal had been issuing verdicts on four-five cases a day.”

A judge of appellate court heads the three-member tribunal. Two other members come from the revenue administration. The three members should collectively exercise the tribunal’s jurisdiction, according to the Revenue Tribunal Act 1974. “Majority opinion shall be deemed to be a decision of the tribunal,” states the Act.

Also, the existing tribunal members have not been transferred to other departments, Registrar Aryal said. Currently, Mani Dev Bhattarai and Bhagiraj Ingnam are serving as revenue member and account member, respectively, in the tribunal.

According to Registrar Aryal, the government, for the first time, transferred a first class officer (joint secretaries) to the Tribunal as member. Earlier, only second class officers (under secretaries) were sent. Both Bhattarai and Ingnam are under secretaries.

As of mid-April, the tribunal has issued verdict on 246 cases. A total of 372 cases had been registered as of mid-April. There are the still 802 cases pending at the tribunal since 2008-09.

Source: Kantipur