(1) Any officer prescribed by the Government or any person objecting to an order passed by the Appellate 1Deputy] Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 51, or by the Appellate 1[Joint] Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 52, or by the 1[Joint] Commissioner under sub-section (1) of section 53, may,--
(a) within a period of one hundred and twenty days, in the case of an officer so prescribed by Government.
(b) within a period of sixty days, in the case of any other person, from the date on which the order was served, appeal against such order to the Appellate Tribunal:
Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, within a further period of one hundred and twenty days in the case of an officer prescribed by Government and sixty days in the case of any other person, admit an appeal presented after the expiration of the first mentioned period of one hundred and twenty days or sixty days, as the case may be, if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not presenting the appeal within the first mentioned period:
Provided further that no appeal filed by any person objecting to an order passed,--
(a) under sub-section (3) of section 51 or under sub-section (3) of section 52 shall be entertained unless it is accompanied by satisfactory proof of the payment of the tax as ordered by the Appellate 1[Deputy] Commissioner or by the Appellate 1[Joint] Commissioner, as the case may be;
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1. Substituted by Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 18 of 2009, with effect from 30th July 2008.
(b) under sub-section (1) of section 53, unless it is accompanied by satisfactory proof of the payment of the tax admitted by the appellant to be due or of such instalments thereof as might have become payable, as the case may be, and twenty-five per cent of the difference of the tax ordered by the 1[Joint] Commissioner under section 53 and the tax admitted by the appellant:
Provided also that no appeal shall be admitted against an order, passed by the Appellate 1[Deputy] Commissioner under section 51 or by the Appellate 1[Joint] Commissioner under section 52, as the case may be, setting aside the assessment and directing the assessing authority to make a fresh assessment.
(2) The officer empowered under sub-section (1) or the person against whom an appeal has been preferred, as the case may be, on receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred under subsection (1) by the other party, may file within sixty days of the receipt of the notice, a memorandum of cross objections and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal, as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (1):
Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, within a further period of thirty days, admit a memorandum of cross-objections filed after the expiration of the first mentioned period of sixty days, if it is satisfied that the officer empowered under sub-section (1) or the person against whom an appeal has been preferred, as the case may be, had sufficient cause for not filing the memorandum within the first mentioned period.
(3) The appeal and the memorandum of cross-objections shall be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner and the appeal shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed:
Provided that no fee shall be payable by the officer empowered under sub-section (1).
(4) In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the appellant a reasonable opportunity of being heard, and for sufficient reasons to be recorded in writing -
(a) in the case of an order of assessment -
(i) confirm, reduce, enhance, restore fully or partially, as the case may be, or annul the assessment or the penalty or both; or
(ii) set aside the assessment and direct the assessing authority to make a fresh assessment after such further inquiry as may be directed; or
(iii) pass such other orders as it may think fit; or
(b) in the case of any other order, confirm, cancel or vary such order:
Provided that at the hearing of any appeal against an order of the Appellate 1[Deputy] Commissioner or the Appellate 1[Joint]Commissioner or the 1[Joint] Commissioner, the Government shall have the right to be heard by a representative:
___________________ 1 Substituted by Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 18 of 2009, with effect from 30th July 2008.
.
Provided further that if the appeal involves a question of law on which the Appellate Tribunal has previously given its decision in another appeal and either a revision petition in the High Court against such decision or an appeal to the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court is pending, the Appellate Tribunal may defer the hearing of the appeal before it, till such revision petition in the High Court or the appeal in the Supreme Court is disposed of.
(5) Within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of notice that an appeal against the order passed by the Appellate 1[Deputy] Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 51 or an order passed by the Appellate 1[Joint] Commissioner under sub-section (3) of section 52 or by the 1[Joint] Commissioner under sub-section (1) of section 53 has been filed, any assessing authority or his representative appearing before the Appellate Tribunal may file an enhancement petition or a petition for restoration of the assessment or penalty or both, fully or partially, as the case may be, in the prescribed form and in the prescribed manner against the order of the Appellate 1[Deputy] Commissioner or the Appellate 1[Joint] Commissioner or the 1[Joint] Commissioner, as the case may be. The Appellate Tribunal may, after giving a reasonable opportunity to the appellant and assessing authority or the representative of the assessing authority of being heard, pass such orders on the petition, as it thinks fit:
Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may admit an enhancement petition or a petition for restoration of the assessment or penalty or both, fully or partially, as the case may be, presented after the expiration of the said period, if it is satisfied that the assessing authority or his representative had sufficient cause for not filing such petition within such period.
(6) Notwithstanding that an appeal has been preferred under sub-section (1), the tax shall be paid in accordance with the order of assessment against which the appeal has been preferred:
Provided that, in the case of an appeal against an order passed by the 1[Joint] Commissioner under sub-section (1) of section 53, the Appellate Tribunal may, in its discretion, give such direction as it thinks fit, in regard to the payment of the tax before the disposal of the appeal, if the appellant furnishes sufficient security to its satisfaction, in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed.
(7) (a) The appellant or the respondent may apply for review of any order passed by the Appellate Tribunal under sub-section (4) on the basis of the discovery of new and important facts which after the exercise of due diligence were not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him when the order was made:
Provided that no such application shall be preferred more than once in respect of the same order.
(b) The application for review shall be preferred in the prescribed manner and within one year from the date of which a copy of the order to which the application relates was served on the applicant in the manner prescribed and where the application is preferred by any party other than a departmental authority, it shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed.
__________________ 1 Substituted by Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 18 of 2009, with effect from 30th July 2008.
(8) Except as provided in the rules made under this Act, the Appellate Tribunal shall not have power to award costs to either of the parties to the appeal or review.
(9) Every order passed by the Appellate Tribunal under sub-section (4) or (7) shall be communicated in the manner prescribed to the appellant, the respondent, the authority from whose order the appeal was preferred, the Deputy Commissioner if he is not such authority, and the Commissioner.
(10) Every order passed by the Appellate Tribunal under sub-section (4) shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (7) and section 60, be final.