Section 361 — Appellate Tribunal. Successor to s.252, s.252A of the 1961 Act.
Section 361 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
Sub-section (1) requires the Central Government to constitute an Appellate Tribunal consisting of as many Judicial and Accountant Members as it thinks fit, to exercise the powers and discharge the functions conferred on the Appellate Tribunal by the Act.
Sub-section (2), as substituted by Act No. 17 of 2026 with effect from 25 August 2026, provides that irrespective of anything contained in the Act, the qualifications, manner of selection, appointment, salaries and allowances, resignation, removal and other conditions of service and eligibility for reappointment of the President, Vice-President and other Members appointed after the commencement of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2026 shall be governed by that Act. Before the substitution, sub-section (2) dealt with two classes of appointee — those appointed after the commencement of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, governed by Chapter II of that Act, and those appointed before the commencement of Part XIV of Chapter VI of the Finance Act, 2017, governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 and its rules as if section 184 of the Finance Act, 2017 had not come into force.
Sub-section (3) requires the Central Government to appoint as President either a person who is a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court and who has completed not less than seven years of service as a Judge in a High Court, or one of the Vice-Presidents of the Appellate Tribunal. Sub-section (4) permits the Central Government to appoint one or more members of the Tribunal to be Vice-President or Vice-Presidents. Sub-section (5) provides that the Vice-President shall exercise such of the powers and perform such of the functions of the President as the President delegates to him by a general or special order in writing.
The Act gives a right of appeal to a tribunal, and this section is what brings that tribunal into existence and fixes who may lead it. Requiring both Judicial and Accountant Members reflects that the appeals turn on law and on accounts together, and the eligibility rule for the President keeps the office with a senior judge or with someone already serving as Vice-President.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judicial service required of a High Court Judge appointed as President | Not less than seven years of service as a Judge in a High Court | Applies to appointment of a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court under clause (a); the alternative route under clause (b) is the appointment of one of the Vice-Presidents and carries no such requirement | Sub-section (3)(a) |
Sub-section (3) offers two mutually exclusive routes to the office of President, and the seven-year requirement attaches only to the first: a Judge of a High Court must have completed not less than seven years as a Judge there, while a serving Vice-President may be appointed under clause (b) without reference to that period. Sub-section (2) as it now stands overrides the rest of the Act on service conditions and channels them entirely to the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2026 for members appointed after that Act commenced; the earlier text, which pointed to the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 and, for pre-2017 appointees, to the Income-tax Act, 1961, was replaced with effect from 25 August 2026. A Vice-President's authority is delegated, not inherent — sub-section (5) requires a general or special order in writing from the President before he exercises the President's powers.
A retired High Court Judge with five years of service on that Bench is not eligible for appointment as President under clause (3)(a), which requires not less than seven years. The Central Government's alternative under clause (3)(b) is to appoint one of the existing Vice-Presidents, for whom no period of judicial service is specified.
A taxpayer does not act under this section, but it is the source of the bench that hears an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal under the Act, and it is the provision invoked when the constitution of a bench, or the eligibility or terms of a member, is put in issue.
a person who is a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court and who has completed not less than seven years of service as a Judge in a High Court
The Vice-President shall exercise such of the powers and perform such of the functions of the President as may be delegated to him by the President by a general or special order in writing.
the qualifications, manner of selection, appointment, salaries and allowances, resignation, removal and other conditions of service and eligibility for reappointment of the President, Vice-President and other Members of the Appellate Tribunal appointed after the commencement of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2026, shall be governed by the provisions of the said Act
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
See the notifications index.