What the courts have decided on section 144BA(6), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Vedanta Holdings Mauritius II Ltd v CIT (International Taxation)-3 — an Approving Panel order under GAAR stayed by the Delhi High Court, with the Revenue filing its own writ against the same order
High CourtHelps taxpayerValidity unconfirmed
The Approving Panel has issued its order and s.144BA(14) says no appeal lies. Will a High Court actually stay a Panel order, and does the same bar stop the department from challenging a Panel order it dislikes?
It will entertain the writ, and on this occasion it stayed the Panel's order — but by consent, not on a contested application. On 17 December 2025 the Delhi High Court issued notice in two writ petitions directed against a single order of the Approving Panel dated 28 November 2025 under the General Anti Avoidance Rule, by which the reference made by the Commissioner of Income Tax (International Taxation)-3, New Delhi under s.144BA(4) dated 26 May 2025 had been upheld; and it directed that "In the meantime, by concurrence of ld. Counsels, the impugned order and the consequent assessment proceedings shall remain stayed till the next date of hearing" — the stay was therefore made on the concurrence of counsel on both sides, and the order is not authority that a contested stay would be granted. The striking feature is who filed the second petition: W.P.(C) 19105/2025 was filed by the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, International Tax Circle 3(1)(1), Delhi against the same Panel order. Because s.144BA(14) binds "the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and the income-tax authorities subordinate to him" as well as the assessee, and bars any appeal under the Act, the department is in the same position as the taxpayer: if it wants to impugn a Panel direction it must also go by writ.
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Statutory position — Rules 10UD, 10UE and 10UF: the Approving Panel stage — Form 3CEIA, four sets, circulation within seven days, and the notice of hearing to both sides
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
The Commissioner has referred my case to the Approving Panel. What form does that reference take, what is the Panel obliged to do with it, and am I entitled to be heard?
Three rules govern this stage and they are short. Rule 10UD requires the reference under s.144BA(4) to be "made in Form No. 3CEIA along with a copy of Form No. 3CEI and such other documents which the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner deems fit" and to be "submitted in four sets, either in Hindi or English". Rule 10UE(1) requires the Chairperson of the Panel to cause the reference to be circulated among the other members "within seven days from the date of receipt of such reference". Rule 10UE(2) requires the Chairperson to "cause to be issued the notice to the Assessing Officer and the assessee affording an opportunity of being heard specifying therein the date and place of hearing" — so the taxpayer's right to be heard before the Panel is in the rules as well as in s.144BA(7). Rule 10UE(3) leaves the venue of the Panel's meetings to the Panel. Rule 10UF fixes the members' remuneration at a sitting fee of six thousand rupees per day plus travelling and daily allowances as admissible to an officer of the rank of Special Secretary to the Government of India, met from the budgetary grants of the Department of Revenue.
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Statutory position — the GAAR procedure: section 144BA, Rules 10UB and 10UC, and the Approving Panel whose direction binds both sides
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
My client has received a notice under Chapter X-A saying his arrangement may be an impermissible avoidance arrangement. What is the procedure from here, who actually decides, and can I appeal the decision?
GAAR cannot be applied by the Assessing Officer on his own. He must refer the matter to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner under s.144BA(1) in Form No. 3CEG after first putting a written notice to the assessee under Rule 10UB(1); the Principal Commissioner then issues his own notice under s.144BA(2) giving the assessee up to sixty days to object and a hearing, and either drops the matter in Form No. 3CEH or refers it to the Approving Panel in Form No. 3CEI. The Approving Panel's direction under s.144BA(6) is binding on the assessee and on the Commissioner and his subordinates, and s.144BA(14) bars any appeal under the Act against that direction — the only route against it is a writ.
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Statutory position — s.153 Explanation 1(xi): the limitation clock stops from the day the GAAR reference reaches the Commissioner until his direction or the Panel's comes back, and then never leaves less than sixty days
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both ways
A reference under s.144BA has been made in my case and months have gone by. Does the ordinary time limit for completing the assessment keep running while the Approving Panel sits on it?
No. Clause (xi) of Explanation 1 to s.153 excludes from the limitation period "the period commencing from the date on which a reference for declaration of an arrangement to be an impermissible avoidance arrangement is received by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner under sub-section (1) of section 144BA and ending on the date on which a direction under sub-section (3) or sub-section (6) or an order under sub-section (5) of the said section is received by the Assessing Officer". The clock therefore stops on receipt of the Assessing Officer's reference and restarts only when the outcome — the Commissioner's own direction under s.144BA(3), the Approving Panel's direction under s.144BA(6), or the Commissioner's order under s.144BA(5) dropping the matter — reaches the Assessing Officer. The proviso that follows the Explanation then gives the officer at least sixty days: if what is left after the exclusion is less than sixty days, the remaining period is extended to sixty days.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.