The letter which was circulating for the past two weeks in the tribunal, alleges that three members of the tribunal have an `arrangement' with certain parties whose matters they have had occasion to hear. Naturally, the `arrangement' involves tax practitioners; one leading firm is named in the letter.

One of the members mentioned in the letter, I S Verma, was last week transferred to Allahabad. The president of the tribunal, T V Rajagopala Rao, however, has denied any connection between the anonymous letter and the transfer orders of Verma.

The managing committee of the ITAT bar association has appointed a sub- committee to go into the allegations, and the sub-committee has already started work in earnest. The authors of the anonymous letter have alsoindicated that information about the alleged misconduct of ITAT members and the lawyers who act as go-betweens was available with the ITAT staff and was verified in the past three months.