Procedure of Appellate Tribunal

Section 364 — PROCEDURE OF APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

Section 364 is the counterpart of s.255 of the 1961 Act. It governs how the Appellate Tribunal sits: Benches, single-member disposal, Special Benches, the resolution of differences of opinion, the Tribunal's power to regulate its own procedure, and its status as a judicial body.

STATUTORY ARCHITECTURE

BENCHES (sub-ss. (1) and (2)): the Tribunal's powers are exercised by Benches constituted by the President, each consisting of one judicial member and one accountant member. SINGLE MEMBER (sub-s. (3)): the President, or a member authorised by the Central Government, may sit singly to dispose of a case allotted to a Bench where the total income computed by the Assessing Officer does not exceed ₹50 lakh. SPECIAL BENCH (sub-s. (4)): for a particular case the President may constitute a Special Bench of three or more members, including at least one judicial and one accountant member. DIFFERENCE OF OPINION (sub-s. (5)): the majority view prevails; if the members are equally divided they state the points of difference, the President refers those points to one or more other members, and the points are decided by the majority of all members who have heard the case, including those who first heard it. PROCEDURE AND STATUS (sub-ss. (6) and (7)): the Tribunal regulates its own procedure and the places of sitting of its Benches, has the powers of the income-tax authorities under s.246, and its proceedings are judicial proceedings for the purposes of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Tribunal being deemed a Civil Court for section 215 and Chapter XXXVII of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

CHANGES FROM THE 1961 ACT

The scheme of s.255 of the 1961 Act is carried over. The 1961 Act combined single-member disposal and Special Benches in one sub-section; the 2025 Act separates them into sub-sections (3) and (4). The references to the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure in s.255(6) of the 1961 Act are replaced by the corresponding provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the reference to the powers under s.131 of the 1961 Act becomes a reference to s.246. The single-member limit of ₹50 lakh is unchanged. Sub-sections (7) to (9) of s.255 of the 1961 Act, on a scheme for faceless disposal of appeals by the Tribunal, have no counterpart in s.364; the general power to frame such schemes is in s.532. The Finance Act, 2026 did not amend s.364.

CROSS-REFERENCES

• Section 362 -- Appeals to the Appellate Tribunal.
• Section 363 -- Orders of the Appellate Tribunal.
• Section 365 -- Appeal to the High Court.
• Section 246 -- Powers of income-tax authorities (discovery, production of evidence, etc.).