Section 364 — Procedure of Appellate Tribunal. Successor to s.255 of the 1961 Act.
Section 364 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
Sub-section (1) vests the Appellate Tribunal's powers and functions in Benches constituted by its President from among the members. Sub-section (2) makes the ordinary Bench one Judicial Member and one accountant member, subject to sub-section (3), which allows the President, or any other member authorised in this behalf by the Central Government, sitting singly, to dispose of any case allotted to the Bench where the total income of the assessee as computed by the Assessing Officer does not exceed rupees fifty lakh. Sub-section (4) allows the President to constitute a Special Bench of three or more members for a particular case, of whom one must be a judicial member and one an accountant member.
Sub-section (5) settles differences of opinion: the point is decided by the majority, but if the members are equally divided they state the points of difference and the President refers them for hearing by one or more other members, the decision then being that of the majority of the members who have heard the case, including those who first heard it.
Sub-section (6) gives the Tribunal power, subject to the Act, to regulate its own procedure and that of its Benches, including the places at which they sit. Sub-section (7) gives it all the powers vested in the income-tax authorities referred to in section 246, deems any proceeding before it a judicial proceeding within the meaning of sections 229 and 267 and for the purposes of section 233 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and deems it a Civil Court for all the purposes of section 215 and Chapter xxxvii of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
The Tribunal decides both law and accounts, which is why the standard Bench pairs a judicial member with an accountant member and why a Special Bench must contain one of each. The single-member route keeps small cases from consuming a two-member Bench. Sub-sections (5) to (7) supply what a tribunal needs to function — a way out of a deadlock, control of its own procedure, and the powers and protections of a court.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceiling for a case to be disposed of by a single member | Rupees fifty lakh | Total income of the assessee as computed by the Assessing Officer in the case; the member must be the President or a member authorised in this behalf by the Central Government | Sub-section (3) |
| Composition of an ordinary Bench | One Judicial Member and one accountant member | Subject to sub-section (3), which allows a single member in small cases | Sub-section (2) |
| Composition of a Special Bench | Three or more members | Constituted by the President for the disposal of a particular case; one must be a judicial member and one an accountant member | Sub-section (4) |
The single-member limit is measured by the total income as computed by the Assessing Officer, so an appeal against a large addition is outside it even if the returned income was small. On a difference of opinion the majority decides; only an equal division triggers the third-member reference, and the result is then the majority of all members who have heard the case, including the two who first heard it. Sub-section (7) also gives the Tribunal the powers of the income-tax authorities in section 246 and makes it a Civil Court for section 215 and Chapter xxxvii of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
An appeal is filed against an assessment in which the Assessing Officer computed total income of Rs. 45 lakh; being within the ceiling, it may be disposed of by a single member. Had the computed total income been Rs. 60 lakh it would have gone to a Bench of one Judicial Member and one accountant member, and if those two differed equally the President would refer the point to one or more other members.
You meet this section in the constitution of the Bench that hears your appeal — single member, division Bench or Special Bench — and in a third-member order following an equal division.
may sitting singly, dispose of any case allotted to the Bench, pertaining to an assessee whose total income as computed by the Assessing Officer in the case does not exceed rupees fifty lakh
if the members are equally divided, they shall state the point or points on which they differ, and the case shall be referred by the President of the Appellate Tribunal for hearing on such point or points by one or more of the other members
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.
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