IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO.40 OF 2010 (Arising out of S.L.P. (C) No.29062 of 2009)

Union of India & Anr.                     ...Appellant(s)

Versus

Nirmala Mitra (Dead) Thr. L.R.            ...Respondent(s)

O  R  D  E  R

Leave granted.

By  consent,  the  matter  is  taken  up  for  final  

hearing.

On going through the impugned order, we find that  

the High Court had dismissed the Tax Appeal filed by the  

Department only on the ground of abatement.  We are of the  

view  that  the  High  Court  ought  to  have  set  aside  the  

abatement  and  decided  the  appeal  on  merits.   In  the  

circumstances, we set aside the impugned order and allow  

the  application  for  setting  aside  the  abatement.   We  

request the High Court to dispose of Tax Appeal No.12 of  

2002  on  merits,  preferably  within  three  months,  

particularly when the cause of action has arisen before  

1950.

The civil appeal is, accordingly, allowed.

......................J.            [S.H. KAPADIA]

......................J.            [AFTAB ALAM]

New Delhi, January 06, 2010.