(a) whether nearly 67,400 disputes relating to indirect taxes are pending in various courts involving Rs. 11,932 crores;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether due to some dispute over the appointment of advocates has led to the piling up of customs and excise disputes;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken or being taken by the Government to sort out the differences in the interest of the people?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI GINGEE N. RAMACHANDRAN)
(a) &(b): A table showing the number of cases involving disputes
relating to Customs and Central Excise revenues before various Appellate
Authorities and Courts is placed on the Table of the House.
(c) to (e): No, Sir. In order to effectively conduct the litigation
before various Courts and CEGAT, it was proposed to maintain a panel of
advocates exclusively for Customs and Central Excise cases with the
concurrence of the Law Ministry. A panel of advocates recommended by
this Ministry was approved and notified by the Law Ministry for
conducting cases before the Supreme Court. Final approval of the names
of Advocates to be empanelled to conduct cases before the High Courts
is still pending with the Ministry of Law. The matter as to the number
of advocates to be empanelled for the High Court panel had been resolved
by the then Finance Minister with the then Law Minister. The approval
of the Law Ministry is awaited.
Details showing the number of disputes under the indirect tax
enactments pending before various Appellate Authorities and
Courts to be placed on the Table of the House along with
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 992 for answer on 19.7.2002
by Shri Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, Member of Parliament
on Pending Indirect Tax Cases
Table (Amount - Rs in crores)
Supreme Court High Courts CEGAT# Commissioner (Appeals)# (As on (As on (2001-2002) (As on April 2002) March 2002) March 2002)
No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt. No. Amt.
Customs 441 84.94 5621 709.79 Central 1752 1495.98 4636 1523.73 Excise
Total 2193 1580.92 10257 2233.52 29,575 4804 41,893 N.A.
Details of Customs and Central Excise cases separately are not available.