A tax lawyers’ association that turned 100 this year organised a day-long seminar with some of the country’s leading legal luminaries.

The attendees at the centennial seminar of the Income Tax Bar Association, Calcutta, held on Sunday included judges and lawyers of the Supreme Court and several high courts.

Justice B.V. Nagarathna of the Supreme Court was the chief guest. She delivered an address titled “Through the Looking Glass”, where she spoke on the “role of income tax lawyers and the stability ensured by contributions of tax professionals and how tax lawyers are best placed in bridging the policy gap between tax avoidance and
evasion”.

Justice S. Rabindra Bhat, former judge of the Supreme Court, was the guest of honour. The special guest was Rajpal Yadav, vice-president, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Calcutta Zone.

The seminar saw panel discussions on a range of issues. The sessions featured Justice Rajiv Shakdher of Delhi High Court; Mukul Rohatgi, senior advocate of the Supreme
Court and former attorney-general of India; Ajay Vohra, senior advocate in the Supreme Court; and J.P. Khaitan, senior advocate, Calcutta High Court.

At the start of the seminar, S.K. Tulsiyan, president of the Income Tax Bar Association, Calcutta, spoke on the history of the bar and its role in
developing income tax laws in India.

The website of the ITBA says: “... Sometime in April 1924, 98 years ago, Shyamlal Sarkar, Bhut Nath Kar, Sashi Bhowmic, Amritlal Majumdar and Jyan Ranjan Roy, five of the then senior most lawyers of Calcutta, practicing direct taxes, joined hands, to form an association to protect the interest of the practicing lawyers, under the name of Income Tax Bar Association, Calcutta, in a small room within the Income Tax Office building at Beadon street (near Scottish Church college), Calcutta.”

The bar now has over 500 members and has since changed multiple addresses. The office moved to its present address at Aayakar Bhawan in Chowringhee Square, in February 1962.

At one of the sessions at the Sunday seminar, advocate Mukul Rohatgi spoke on the “urgent need for settlement to reduce the litigations which will be beneficial to both the government and the taxpayers at large”. Rajpal Yadav chaired the session.

At another session, Justice Shakdher talked about constitutional development and its relation and impact on taxation laws. Advocate Vohra talked about the “provisions of block assessment”. The session was chaired by Justice (Retd.) R.V. Easwar of Delhi High Court.

“The ITBA has been playing a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the tax practitioners and the income tax department for the past hundred years,” said Himadri Mukhopadhyay, the association secretary.