Pramod Kumar, Accountant Member. - During the course of hearing of these appeals, it was noticed that the assessee has not complied with the provisions of section 253(6) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, requiring, inter alia, an assessee-appellant to pay requisite fees. The assessee has, however, moved a petition urging us to hold that the assessee, being an indigent person, is not required to pay the appeal fees. We are, thus, required to dispose of this plea at the threshold itself.

2. The assessee before is a lawyer by profession, and she was subjected to a search and seizure operation carried out by the income-tax authorities. During the course of search, only Rs. 10,000 were found in cash. It is in connection with the assessments framed as a result of this search operation that the assessee is pursuing the present appeals.

3. The case of the assessee is that she is not in a position to pay the appeal fees, and that, in accordance with the letter and spirit of provisions of Order XXXIII of the Civil Procedure Code, we should not deny her justice only on the ground of her inability to pay the appeal fees. According to her calculations, she is required to pay appeal fees of Rs. 25