*The Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) recently slammed the Income Tax Department for bulk disposal of cases, calling it an "absence of judicial mind".* Here's what happened: - *Case Background*: The ITAT was hearing cross-appeals filed by Minda Capital Pvt. Ltd. and the Revenue for Assessment Years (AYs) 2016-17 to 2018-19. The assessee challenged the validity of the assessment orders, arguing that the approvals under Section 153D of the Income Tax Act were granted arbitrarily and without proper scrutiny. - *ITAT's Observation*: The tribunal noted that the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Addl. CIT) had issued a common approval for multiple assessment years and multiple cases on the same day without any independent analysis or reasoning. The approval letter merely stated that the draft assessment orders were approved as submitted, raising serious doubts about the authority's application of mind. - *Bulk Disposal*: The ITAT observed that the Addl. CIT had approved 43 cases in a single day, including 14 cases related to Minda Capital and another assessee, Smt Neetu Nayyar. This bulk disposal made it humanly impossible for the authority to apply its mind independently to each case. - *Judicial Precedent*: The ITAT relied on the judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of PCIT vs Shiv Kumar Nayyar, which held that the grant of approval under Section 153D of the Act cannot be merely a ritualistic formality or rubber stamping by the authority, rather it must reflect an appropriate application of mind. - *Outcome*: The ITAT quashed the proceedings initiated under Section 153C read with Section 153A of the Income Tax Act for AYs 2016-17 to 2018-19. The tribunal comprising Rifaur Rahman (Accountant Member) and Anubav Sharma (Judicial Member) partly allowed the assessee's appeals and dismissed the Revenue's appeals .