CBDT circular 22 September 1971
Circular No. 66
Circular No. 66 [F. No. 275/156/71-ITJ], dated 22-9-1971
What this is
Circular No. 66 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 22 September 1971. Its subject is Circular No. 66 [F. No. 275/156/71-ITJ], dated 22-9-1971.
What it does
Asks Commissioners to instruct their Income-tax Officers to stop delaying applications under section 197(3). It records the representation made to the Board that some officers had taken inordinately long to dispose of such applications and that this was causing avoidable inconvenience to assessees, and directs that suitable instructions be issued to the officers working under the addressee.
Why it was issued
It was represented to the Board that there had been inordinate delay in some Income-tax Officers in disposing of applications under section 197(3).
Who it reaches
- Applicants awaiting a certificate under section 197
- Income-tax Officers handling such applications
- Commissioners responsible for supervising them
The provisions it speaks to
Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.
The instrument, as the Board published it
The department publishes this one only as a PDF, so the words below were read out of that PDF by machine. That reading can carry its own mistakes — a misread number, a broken line. Check the signed document before you rely on a figure in it.
Circular No. 66 [F. No. 275/156/71-ITJ], dated 22-9-1971
It has been represented to the Board that there has been inordinate delay in some Income-tax Officers in the disposal of applications under section 197(3) of the Income-tax Act causing avoidable inconvenience to the assessees. Suitable instructions may be issued to the Income-tax Officers working under you to avoid such delays.
What to watch
- This is an administrative direction on timeliness; it gives an applicant no right to a certificate and lays down no time limit.
- Section 197 and its sub-sections have been restructured since, so the sub-section referred to here does not correspond to the present certificate procedure.
- The remedy it points to is supervisory, that is a representation to the Commissioner, rather than anything to be argued in assessment.
Where you meet it
When a lower or nil deduction certificate application is sitting undisposed and the matter has to be taken up with the supervisory authority.
On the same provision
Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.
- Notification No. 02 /2023 — Procedure format and standards for filling an application for grant of certificate under sub rule 4 and its proviso of r 27 September 2023
- Circular No. 402/92/2006-MC (04 OF 2010) — Of 2010 press release no. 402/92/2006 mc 04 of 2010 dated 20 1 2010 1 20 January 2010
- Circular No. 7/2008 — Order under section 119(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 regarding exemption from the TDS provisions under section 197 rea 1 August 2008
- Notification No. 237 — Amendment of the Income-tax Rules under section 197 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 2 September 2004
- Circular No. 780 — 149. Computation of income falling under section 10(23G) 4 October 1999
- Circular No. 774 — 1174. Whether certificate issued under section 197(1) will be applicable only in respect of credit or payments, as the c 17 March 1999
A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.
