Reference to the High Court Division
160. (1) The assessee or the Commissioner may, [within ninety days] from the date of receipt of the order of the Appellate Tribunal communicated to him under section 159, by application in the prescribed form, accompanied, in the case of an application by the assessee, by a fee of [two thousand taka], refer to the High Court Division any question of law arising out of such order [:
[Provided that no reference under sub-section (1) shall lie against an order of the Taxes Appellate Tribunal, unless the assessee has paid the following tax at the rate of-
(a) [fifteen per cent] of the difference between the tax as determined on the basis of the order of the Taxes Appellate Tribunal and the tax payable under section 74 where tax demand does not exceed one million taka;
(b) [twenty five per cent] of the difference between the tax as determined on the basis of the order of the Taxes Appellate Tribunal and the tax payable under section 74 where tax demand exceeds one million taka:]
Provided further that the Board may, on an application made in this behalf, modify or waive, in any case, the requirement of such payment.]
(2) An application under sub-section (1) shall be in triplicate and shall be accompanied by the following documents, namely:-
(a) certified copy, in triplicate, of the order of the Appellate Tribunal out of which the question of law has arisen;
(b) certified copy, in triplicate, of the order of the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, the Inspecting Joint Commissioner or the Appellate Joint Commissioner [or the Commissioner (Appeals)], as the case may be, which was the subject-matter of appeal before the Appellate Tribunal; and
(c) certified copy, in triplicate, of any other document the contents of which are relevant to the question of law formulated in the application and which was produced before the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, the Inspecting Joint Commissioner, the Appellate Joint Commissioner [or the Commissioner (Appeals)] or the Appellate Tribunal, as the case may be, in the course of any proceedings relating to any order referred to in clause (a) or (b).
(3) Where the assessee is the applicant, the Commissioner shall be made a respondent; and where the Commissioner is the applicant the assessee shall be made a respondent:
Provided that where an assessee dies or is succeeded by another person or is a company which is being wound up, the application shall not abate and may, if the assessee was the applicant, be continued by, and if he was the respondent, be continued against, the executor, administrator or successor or other legal representative of the assessee, or by a against the liquidator or receiver, as the case may be.
(4) On receipt of the notice of the date of hearing of the application, the respondent shall, at least seven days before the date of hearing submit in writing a reply to the application; and he shall therein specifically admit or deny whether the question of law formulated by the applicant arises out of the order of the Appellate Tribunal.
(5) If the question formulated by the applicant is, in the opinion of the respondent, defective, the reply shall state in what particular the question is defective and what is the exact question of law, if any, which arises out of the said order; and the reply shall be in triplicate and he accompanied by any documents which are relevant to the question of law formulated in the application and which were produced before the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, the Inspecting Joint Commissioner, the Appellate Joint Commissioner [, the Commissioner (Appeals)] or the Appellate Tribunal, as the case may be, in the course of any proceedings relating to any order referred to in sub-section (2)(a) or (b).
(6) Section 5 of the
Limitation Act, 1908 (IX of 1908), shall apply to an application under sub-section (1).