Section 245BC — Power of Chairman to Transfer Cases from One Bench to Another
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Provision: Enables the Chairman, on the application of the assessee or the Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner/Principal Commissioner/Commissioner and after notice and hearing, or suo motu, to transfer any case pending before one Bench to another Bench. A proviso disapplies the section on or after 1 February 2021.
Heading: Power of Chairman to transfer cases from one Bench to another.
Finance Act, 2026: Not amended.
Authorities digested: 2 (candour rule — an internal transfer power; the cognate jurisprudence is on transfer of cases under section 127).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
1. An internal transfer power
Section 245BC permits the Chairman to move a pending settlement case from one Bench to another. It is the Commission's analogue of the section 127 power to transfer assessment cases. The safeguards — notice and an opportunity of hearing where the transfer is on application — mirror the natural-justice content read into section 127, although a suo motu transfer may be made without notice. The proviso, inserted in the 2021 winding-up, switches the section off from 1 February 2021, consistent with the freezing of the Commission.
2. Cognate principle
Where a transfer prejudices a party, the governing principles are those developed under section 127: reasons must support an inter-station transfer and, ordinarily, a hearing must be given (Ajantha Industries v. CBDT, (1976) 102 ITR 281 (SC); K.P. Mohammed Salim v. CIT, (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC)). Within a single Commission the prejudice is usually slight, but the natural-justice safeguard in section 245BC itself is express.
3. Candour note
No reported decision turning specifically on section 245BC has been traced; the analysis proceeds on the cognate section 127 line, which is identified as such.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
The text of the section, as it stands in the Act (FA-2025 base), is set out below.
245BC. On the application of the assessee or the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and after notice to them, and after hearing such of them as he may desire to be heard, or on his own motion without such notice, the Chairman may transfer any case pending before one Bench, for disposal, to another Bench:
Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of February, 2021.
C. AUTHORITIES
Internal transfer power; cognate authorities on transfer of cases (section 127) are identified as cognate, not as direct authority on section 245BC.
Cluster 1 — Cognate transfer-of-case authorities
Cited as cognate; the natural-justice content of a transfer power.
Held: Recording and communication of reasons is a mandatory requirement for transfer of a case under section 127; failure vitiates the transfer.
Relevance: Cognate authority on the procedural safeguards attending a transfer power; informs the notice-and-hearing requirement in section 245BC. Flagged as a section 127 decision, not a direct authority on section 245BC.
K.P. Mohammed Salim v. CIT, (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC) [cognate, section 127]
Citation: (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC).
Held: Upheld the power to transfer and explained the scope of section 127, including coordinate-jurisdiction transfers.
Relevance: Cognate authority on the contours of a transfer power within a tax administration; identified as a section 127 decision.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (text as printed in the local Act, base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher's footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed; three asterisks (***) denote words or a provision omitted by amendment and retained only to mark the omission. The Income-tax Settlement Commission ceased to operate for applications made on or after 1 February 2021 (Finance Act, 2021); pending applications stand transferred to the Interim Board for Settlement (section 245AA). Finance Act, 2026 makes no change to any section of Chapter XIX-A. Citations are stated as reported; orders of the Tribunal and High Courts are flagged as such. Where a section has not been judicially construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. This material is for professional reference and is not legal advice.
CHAPTER XIX-A — SETTLEMENT OF CASES
Section 245BC — Power of Chairman to Transfer Cases from One Bench to Another
Case Laws & Commentary · Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) · bharattax.co Treatise
Provision: Enables the Chairman, on the application of the assessee or the Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner/Principal Commissioner/Commissioner and after notice and hearing, or suo motu, to transfer any case pending before one Bench to another Bench. A proviso disapplies the section on or after 1 February 2021.
Heading: Power of Chairman to transfer cases from one Bench to another.
Finance Act, 2026: Not amended.
Authorities digested: 2 (candour rule — an internal transfer power; the cognate jurisprudence is on transfer of cases under section 127).
A. SECTION COMMENTARY
1. An internal transfer power
Section 245BC permits the Chairman to move a pending settlement case from one Bench to another. It is the Commission's analogue of the section 127 power to transfer assessment cases. The safeguards — notice and an opportunity of hearing where the transfer is on application — mirror the natural-justice content read into section 127, although a suo motu transfer may be made without notice. The proviso, inserted in the 2021 winding-up, switches the section off from 1 February 2021, consistent with the freezing of the Commission.
2. Cognate principle
Where a transfer prejudices a party, the governing principles are those developed under section 127: reasons must support an inter-station transfer and, ordinarily, a hearing must be given (Ajantha Industries v. CBDT, (1976) 102 ITR 281 (SC); K.P. Mohammed Salim v. CIT, (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC)). Within a single Commission the prejudice is usually slight, but the natural-justice safeguard in section 245BC itself is express.
3. Candour note
No reported decision turning specifically on section 245BC has been traced; the analysis proceeds on the cognate section 127 line, which is identified as such.
B. STATUTORY POSITION (verbatim text)
The text of the section, as it stands in the Act (FA-2025 base), is set out below.
245BC. On the application of the assessee or the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and after notice to them, and after hearing such of them as he may desire to be heard, or on his own motion without such notice, the Chairman may transfer any case pending before one Bench, for disposal, to another Bench:
Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply on or after the 1st day of February, 2021.
C. AUTHORITIES
Internal transfer power; cognate authorities on transfer of cases (section 127) are identified as cognate, not as direct authority on section 245BC.
Cluster 1 — Cognate transfer-of-case authorities
Cited as cognate; the natural-justice content of a transfer power.
Ajantha Industries v. CBDT, (1976) 102 ITR 281 (SC) [cognate, section 127]
Citation: (1976) 102 ITR 281 (SC).
Held: Recording and communication of reasons is a mandatory requirement for transfer of a case under section 127; failure vitiates the transfer.
Relevance: Cognate authority on the procedural safeguards attending a transfer power; informs the notice-and-hearing requirement in section 245BC. Flagged as a section 127 decision, not a direct authority on section 245BC.
K.P. Mohammed Salim v. CIT, (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC) [cognate, section 127]
Citation: (2008) 300 ITR 302 (SC).
Held: Upheld the power to transfer and explained the scope of section 127, including coordinate-jurisdiction transfers.
Relevance: Cognate authority on the contours of a transfer power within a tax administration; identified as a section 127 decision.
Compiled for the bharattax.co Treatise on the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026). Statutory text is reproduced from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (text as printed in the local Act, base text amended up to the Finance Act, 2025), with the publisher's footnote apparatus and amendment-marker brackets removed; three asterisks (***) denote words or a provision omitted by amendment and retained only to mark the omission. The Income-tax Settlement Commission ceased to operate for applications made on or after 1 February 2021 (Finance Act, 2021); pending applications stand transferred to the Interim Board for Settlement (section 245AA). Finance Act, 2026 makes no change to any section of Chapter XIX-A. Citations are stated as reported; orders of the Tribunal and High Courts are flagged as such. Where a section has not been judicially construed, that is stated candidly and the nearest governing authority is given. This material is for professional reference and is not legal advice.