Over 30,000 tax litigations are pending in the Income Tax Appelate Tribunals across the country, though most of these appeals are filed by the tax department and not the assessees, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in the Lok Sabha today.

ITATs accross the country have 30,303 cases pending till June 30 this year of which more than 77 per cent are those appeals filed by the tax department, Palanimanickam informed the lower house.

The minister said this in reply to a question on the pendency of income tax cases in tribunals and steps taken by the government to expedite the process.

"The organisation of the benches of Income Tax Apellate Tribunal and its administration falls within the work domain of Ministry of Law and Justice. However, the Chief Commissioners of Income Tax, Commissioners of Income Tax (Departmental Representative) do request the President/Vice President of Income Tax Apellate Tribunal for expeditious disposal of the cases," Palanimanickam said.

There are about 23,600 appeals filed by the tax department which are pending in the tribunals while 6,693 appeals filed by the taxpayers have been pending in the tribunals.