New Delhi: The Supreme Court has slammed the Income Tax department for making "misleading statement" about the pendency of an appeal while making it clear that the apex court is not a "picnic place" and cannot be treated like this.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur slapped a cost of Rs 10 lakh on the department and said it was "shocked" that the Centre, through the Commissioner of Income Tax, has taken the matter "so casually".
The bench, also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, also noted in its order that the IT department filed the plea after a delay of 596 days and "inadequate and unconvincing explanation" was given for the delay.
"Please do not do this. The Supreme Court is not a picnic place. Is this the way you treat the Supreme Court of India?" the bench told the counsel appearing for the department.
"You cannot treat the Supreme Court like this," the bench said.
The top court observed that in the petition filed by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Ghaziabad, the department has said that a similar matter filed in 2012 was pending in the court.
It, however, noted that the matter referred to as pending by the department was decided by the apex court way back in September 2012.
"In other words, the petitioners have given a totally misleading statement before this court. We are shocked that the Union of India through the Commissioner of Income Tax has taken the matter so casually," the bench said in its order while dismissing the petition.
"As we have noted, there is an inadequate explanation of delay of 596 days in filing the petition and a misleading statement about the pendency of a similar civil appeal," it said.
It said that the cost of Rs 10 lakh be deposited with the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks and the amount be utilised for juvenile justice issues.