Section 387 — Powers of the Board for Advance Rulings. Successor to s.245U of the 1961 Act.
Section 387 is in Chapter XVIII — Appeals Revisions and Alternate Dispute Resolutions, which runs from section 356 to section 389.
Sub-section (1) vests the Board for Advance Rulings, for the purpose of exercising its powers, with all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 that are referred to in section 246 of this Act.
Sub-section (2) fixes its character for three further purposes. It is deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of section 215, but not for the purposes of Chapter xxviii of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Every proceeding before it is deemed to be a judicial proceeding under sections 229 and 267 and for the purposes of section 233 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
A body that decides applications has to be able to compel the material it needs, and the Act supplies that by borrowing the civil court powers already listed in section 246 rather than writing a fresh list. The deeming in sub-section (2) attaches the consequences that follow from proceedings being judicial, while the express exclusion of Chapter xxviii of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 marks out one set of consequences that is not to follow.
The powers are not open-ended. Sub-section (1) confers those powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 that are referred to in section 246, and confers them for the purpose of exercising the Board's powers rather than at large, so section 246 has to be read to know what the Board can do. Sub-section (2) works by deemings tied to named provisions, one of which is negative: the Board is a civil court for section 215 but expressly not for Chapter xxviii of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Because a proceeding before it is deemed judicial for the purposes named, what is said and produced there carries the exposure attaching to a judicial proceeding rather than that of a departmental hearing.
A company applying to the Board for Advance Rulings is required to produce agreements and records relevant to the transaction. The Board exercises that power as a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 to the extent referred to in section 246, and the hearing is a proceeding deemed to be judicial under sections 229 and 267 and for the purposes of section 233 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — so a statement made in it is not on the same footing as one made in correspondence with an officer.
In a proceeding before the Board for Advance Rulings on an application, and in any summons, direction to produce records or requirement to give evidence issued by it; the same powers reach an assessee before an Approving Panel under section 274(22).
have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) as are referred to in section 246 of this Act
deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of section 215 but not for the purposes of Chapter XXVIII of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.