Will review appointments of tax tribunal chairman, members, Haryana tells HC

CHANDIGARH: Haryana government on Monday informed the Punjab and Haryana high court that it would reconsider the appointments of chairman and members of Haryana tax tribunal within a month, in accordance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court.
When the matter came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice R K Jain, the Haryana government counsel submitted that state would reconsider the appointments of chairman and members of the Haryana tax tribunal as per the guidelines given by the Supreme Court in Sampath Kumar case and the recent judgment delivered on October 16 last year before making the aforesaid selections and appointments.The apex court had directed that the new appointments be done in consultation with the high court.
The submissions were given by the state in response to a PIL filed by one Vikas Miglany, alleging favouritism in making the selection on these posts. The petitioner had sought the quashing of appointments of K S Bhoria as chairman and of Yudhavir Singh, Subhash Kaushik and Mukesh Lata Gupta as members of Haryana tax tribunal.
According to the petitioner, in May 2011, the chief minister had decided to appoint Justice S L Bhayana as chairman and Rajender Ballah as member of the tribunal. However, the chief minister changed his mind a few days later and appointed Bhoria as chairman and Mukesh Lata Gupta as member of the tribunal. Besides, Yudhavir, who is related to Haryana advocate general Hawa Singh Hooda, was appointed as member of the tribunal for second term. Subhash was also appointed as member.