(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4), a taxpayer may apply for settlement of a dispute pending before the Appellate Income-tax Authority or Taxes Appellate Tribunal or before any Division of the Supreme Court, through the alternative dispute resolution process. 

(2) if any dispute is pending before any Division of the Supreme Court, the taxpayer shall, before filing an application under sub-section (1), obtain leave of the Court:

Provided, that if any dispute is brought to a writ, the said dispute shall not be settled through the alternative dispute resolution process.

(3) Application to Alternative Dispute Resolution-

(a) shall be certified and filed in the prescribed form, at the time and with the fee;

(b) the appeal concerned shall lie before the Income-tax Authority or the Taxes Appellate Tribunal or, as the case may be, the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

(4) The taxpayer shall submit the relevant papers, documents and statement of lawful ground and facts along with the application form.

(5) Where a taxpayer has filed a return for an income year, shall not be eligible to file an alternative dispute resolution application unless he has not paid the tax payable under section 173 in that income year.