Appellate Tribunal.

252. (1) The Central Government shall constitute an Appellate Tribunal consisting of as many judicial and accountant members as it thinks fit to exercise the powers and discharge the functions conferred on the Appellate Tribunal by this Act.

(2) A judicial member shall be a person who has for at least ten years held a judicial office in the territory of India or who has been a member of the Indian Legal Service and has held a post in Grade II of that Service or any equivalent or higher post for at least three years or who has been an advocate for at least ten years.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section,—

  (i) in computing the period during which a person has held judicial office in the territory of India, there shall be included any period, after he has held any judicial office, during which the person has been an advocate or has held the office of a member of a Tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law;

 (ii) in computing the period during which a person has been an advocate, there shall be included any period during which the person has held judicial office or the office of a member of a Tribunal or any post, under the Union or a State, requiring special knowledge of law after he became an advocate.

(2A) An accountant member shall be a person who has for at least ten years been in the practice of accountancy as a chartered accountant under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949), or as a registered accountant under any law formerly in force or partly as a registered accountant and partly as a chartered accountant, or who has been a member of the Indian Income-tax Service, Group A and has held the post of Additional Commissioner of Income-tax or any equivalent or higher post for at least three years.

(3) The Central Government shall appoint—

 (a) a person who is a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court and who has completed not less than seven years of service as a Judge in a High Court; or

 (b) [***] one of the Vice-Presidents of the Appellate Tribunal,

to be the President thereof.

(4) The Central Government may appoint one or more members of the Appellate Tribunal to be the Vice-President or, as the case may be, Vice-Presidents thereof.

(4A) [***]

(5) The [***] Vice-President shall exercise such of the powers and perform such of the functions of the President as may be delegated to him by the President by a general or special order in writing.