The West Bengal State Assembly has passed the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to replace the Governor with the State Government as the appointing authority of the Tribunal Chairman and judicial members in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
The amendment passed on Monday, the technical member of the Tribunal will also be appointed by the State government instead of the Governor.
As per the Bill, the Chairman or any other member of the Tribunal cannot be removed by the State government except on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity following an enquiry by the Chief Justice or a sitting High Court judge as nominated by the Chief Justice.
The State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Monday stated that the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 was amended so as to expand the scope of selection of Technical Members since the existing criteria for eligibility for the appointment of Technical Member is restrictive and enough applications are not available for selections.
Earlier, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar vide his Twitter handle on June 13 had expressed his displeasure at the delay of the State government in notifying the appointment of the new Chairman of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal- Dr.Justice Sambuddha Chakrabarti, former Judge of the Calcutta High Court.
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