Case law › Circulars › 2012 › Circular No. 1/FT&TR/2012 [F.NO. 500/15/2011-FT&TR-I]

CBDT circular 31 January 2012

Circular No. 1/FT&TR/2012 [F.NO. 500/15/2011-FT&TR-I]

Section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) - Reference to - Constitution of DRP at specified places

What this is

Circular No. 1/FT&TR/2012 [F.NO. 500/15/2011-FT&TR-I] was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 31 January 2012. Its subject is Section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) - Reference to - Constitution of DRP at specified places.

What it does

Constitutes the Dispute Resolution Panels under section 144C, in supersession of earlier orders. Panels of three Commissioners or Directors of Income-tax each are set up at ten places: Delhi-I, Delhi-II, Mumbai-I, Mumbai-II, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, with named officers as members. They perform these duties in addition to their regular duties, with immediate effect and until further order.

Why it was issued

The Board was reconstituting the Panels under its section 144C power, superseding the earlier orders on the point.

Who it reaches

Assessees served with a draft assessment order who must choose between objecting to the Panel and the appellate route
Eligible assessees in transfer pricing and non-resident cases
The Commissioners and Directors named as Panel members

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.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.144C	s.275, s.532

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

Section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) - Reference to - Constitution of DRP at specified places
ORDER NO. 1/FT&TR/2012 [F.NO. 500/15/2011-FT&TR-I], dated 31-1-2012
In exercise of powers conferred under section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and in supersession of earlier orders, the Board hereby constitutes the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) comprising of three Commissioners of Income-tax/Directors of Income-tax as Members of DRP at the places given below, who shall perform such duties in addition to their regular duties with immediate effect and until further order:

Sl. No.
Place of DRP
Members of DRP

1
Delhi-I
Shri Hari Kishan, CIT-I, Delhi Smt. Rashmi Saxena Sahni, DIT(TP)-I, Delhi Smt. Punam K. Sidhu, DIT(IT)-II, Delhi

2
Delhi-II
Shri Dinesh Verma, DIT(IT)-I, Delhi Shri Aniruddha Kumar, DIT(TP)-II, Delhi Shri N.P. Bhagat, CIT-VI, Delhi

3
Mumbai-I
Shri Kuntal Kumar Sen, DIT(IT)-II, Mumbai Mrs. S. Bhattasli, CIT-VIII, Mumbai Smt. Sangeeta Singh, DIT(TP)-II, Mumbai

4
Mumbai-II
Shri L.N. Pant, DIT(IT)-I, Mumbai Smt. Anurdadha Bhatia, DIT(TP)-Mumbai Shri Sanjay Patra, CIT(Central-I), Mumbai

5
Pune
Shri V.K. Gupta, DIT(IT&TP), Ahmedabad Shri P.K. Prasad, DIT(1T), Bangalore Shri R. Kushal, CIT-I, Pune

6
Kolkata
Shri Dinesh Verma, DIT(IT)-I, Delhi Shri Rakesh Bhaskar, DIT(TP), Bangalore Ms. Kavita Jha, CIT-Xl, Kolkata

7
Ahmedabad
Shri Narendra Kumar, DIT(IT&TP), Pure Shri Rakesh Bhaskar, DIT(TP), Bangalore Shri Desh Raj, CIT-IV, Ahmedabad

8
Hyderabad
Shri Sanjay Kumar, DIT(IT&TP), Kolkata Shri M. Rathinaswamy, DIT(TP), Chennai Shri H. Srinivasulu, CIT-IV, Hyderabad

9
Bangalore
Shri Pravin Kishore Prasad, DIT(IT), Bangalore Ms. Anuradha Goyal, CIT-II, Bangalore Shri Jagdish Babu, DIT(IT&TP), Hyderabad

10
Chennai
Shri Rajib Hota, DIT(IT), Chennai Shri Sanjay Kumar, DIT(IT&TP), Kolkata Shri Mahendra Singh, CIT-II, Chennai

2. This issues with the approval of Chairman, CBDT.
■■

What to watch

Each Panel sits at a named place and is manned by named officers, so a change in an officer's posting matters when objecting or when raising a question about who heard the matter.
Membership is an additional duty, not a full-time posting.
The order operates until further order and supersedes earlier constitutions, so check for a later order before relying on this composition.
Several officers appear on more than one Panel, which is worth noting where a conflict or a recusal is being raised.

Where you meet it

When a draft order under section 144C is received and objections are filed before the Panel having jurisdiction over the case.

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.

Circular No. 12/2024 — Guidance note 1/2024 on provisions of the direct tax vivad se vishwas scheme 2024 15 October 2024
Circular No. 8/2021 — Extension of time lines related to certain compliances by the taxpayers under the income tax act 1961 30 April 2021
Notification No. 20/2021 [F. No. 370142/35/2020-TPL] / SO 1432(E) — Ministry of Finance 31 March 2021
Notification No. 73/2018 [F. No. 370142/8/2018-TPL] / GSR 1055(E) — 16 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(i)] 23 October 2018
Notification No. 87/ 2015/ F.No. 500/25/2014-SO/FTnTR-2(1)/SO 2965(E) — 2 the Gazette of INDIA : Extraordinary [Part Ii—sec. 3(ii)] 30 October 2015
Notification No. 1/ 2015 [F.No. 500/25/2014-SO/FTnTR-2(1)] / SO 14(E) — Section 118 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Income-tax Authorities - Control of - Notified Subordinate Officer - Supersess 1 January 2015

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.