Tax experts including Soli E Dastur, GS Jetley and PN Shah cited various anomalies in the scheme which would prove fatal for the assessees.

"The legislation should have been more specific and should not have left any doubt in a scheme specifically meant for reducing litigation," said Dastur at a seminar on the Samadhan scheme.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Chamber of Income Tax Consultants (CITC) and the All India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP) here on Saturday.

Dastur, who spoke at length, did some fine haircombing of the drafting of the scheme and clearly gave the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ravikant, some anxious moments.

Chartered accountants who are already sore with the hike in fees for filing appeals were generally inagreement with Dastur that the government was not being very honest about reducing litigation.

Dastur pointed out that litigation was also unnecessarily increasing because of either bad drafting or officers taking an obtuse view of the law, refusing to see the simple facts as they were.

He pointed out that under the scheme the Designated Authority (DA) can amend a certificate of declaration, and there are no guidelines on how he would do so. The sub-section should clarify what amendments these would be, otherwise it would be a very wide power.

Also, the DA is not obliged to give the assessee a hearing before holding that the particulars of a declaration are wrong and therfore the declaration is null and void. This, according to Dastur, was not in keeping with the principles of natural justice.

He said also if the declarant cannot pay the entire amount till December 31, when the scheme closes, no refund is possible. The CBDT has clarified that an adjustment can be made. But according to Dastur, if theassessee wins in appeal, what would happen to the amount paid if the next year round the officer handling his return refuses to adjust the amount paid against that year's tax?

The soft spoken CBDT chief did not answer the points raised by Dastur, but appealed to the CAs not to "create imaginary difficulties" in the working of the scheme.

He told the tax professionals that the department is taking steps to reduce litigation and is in the process of scrutinising the process of filing appeals.