Pending Litigation

With a whopping 80,000 tax litigation cases pending before Cestat, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on Saturday said the government will set up a committee to suggest measures to reduce tax litigation and expeditious disposal of backlog. Speaking at an event to commemorate 40 years of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Malhotra said bringing clarity in tax laws and rules will help in reducing litigation as pendency of litigation has been a constant challenge before the tribunal. "What we will do in the government and we will seek support from CESTAT and CBIC is with us, we will set up a group and see how we can reduce litigation and reduce pendency. Whether it is by simplifying, clarifying law or training (officers), what are the various ways we can reduce fresh litigation and provide for expeditious disposal of pending cases," Malhotra said. He said CESTAT is currently operating with a full bench and the vacancies that were there last year have been a

Nearly 6.72 lakh cases are pending in various district and subordinate courts for more than 20 years, government told Lok Sabha on Friday. In case of High Courts, there are 2,94,547 such cases. In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, "The number of cases pending for more than 20 years in the Supreme Court of India, as per the data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS) as on January 27, 2023, is 208 cases." "In case of the (25) high courts, there are 2,94,547 cases and 6,71,543 cases in the district and subordinate courts that are pending for more than 20 years as per data available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) on February 01, 2023," he said. So far as the reasons for such long pendency of court cases is concerned, the Supreme Court has stated that there is no conspicuous reason which can be depicted for long pendency of cases, he said. "Pendency of court cases is a multi-faceted problem. Due to the increase in the population

Rajasthan and Maharashtra became the first states to use end-to-end digital platforms during the third National Lok Adalat of the year on Saturday

The high court is encouraging litigants involved in various disputes, from commercial to matrimonial issues, to go for mediation to resolve their differences

The scheme is attractive, since the tax relief is 40-70% of the amount in dispute

Experts say the VCES scheme announced in 2013 covered only unpaid service tax dues

As per the latest data, 6,500 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, about 38000 cases in high courts and 94,000 cases in ITAT, some even a decade old