By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 10, 2020: THE Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, will inaugurate the state-of-the-art office-cum-residential complex of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) at Cuttack tomorrow at 4:30 PM via video conferencing. Union Law Minister, Union Petroleum Minister, Chief Minister of Odisha, Chief Justice and Judges of Orissa High Court, along with other dignitaries would also be present during the event. On this occasion, an e-Coffee Table Book on ITAT will also be released.

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, also known as ITAT, is an important statutory body in the field of direct taxes and its orders are accepted as final, on findings of fact. It is presently headed by Mr. Justice (Retd) P.P. Bhatt, formerly Judge of the High Court of Jharkhand and High Court of Gujarat. ITAT was the first Tribunal to be created on 25th January, 1941 and is also known as ‘Mother Tribunal'. Starting with three benches in the year 1941, at Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta it has now grown to 63 Benches and two circuit benches spread across thirty cities of India.

The Cuttack Bench of the ITAT was created and started functioning from 23rd May, 1970. The jurisdiction of Cuttack Bench extends to the whole of Odisha. It was functioning in a rented premise for more than 50 years. The newly-built office-cum-residential complex of ITAT, Cuttack is spread over an area of 1.60 acres of land allotted by the State Government of Odisha free of cost in the year 2015. The total built-up area of the office complex is 1938 sq.mtrs. over 3 floors including, inter alia, the spacious court room, ultra-modern record room, well-equipped chambers for the Members of the Bench, library room, well-equipped modern conference hall, with sufficient space for the litigants, bar room for Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, etc.