Commissioner of Income Tax vs Harita Finance Ltd.

N.V. Balasubramanian, J.—At the instance of the Revenue, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has stated a case and referred the following substantial question of law for our consideration under Sections 256(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 :

Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in law in holding that the hire purchase finance charges and service charges do not constitute chargeable interest under Sections 2(7) of the Interest-tax Act for the purpose of interest-tax assessment ?

The assessment year with which we are concerned is 1994-95. The point involved in the question is whether the agreement entered into between the parties was a hire purchase agreement or not. We find that the Appellate Tribunal has examined the question in great detail and recorded a finding of fact that the agreement between the parties was a hire purchase agreement. The Appellate Tribunal in paragraph 10 of its order has found that it is not the case of the Revenue that the hirer is the real purchaser of the asset and the assessee is only a financier to help the purchaser and such things are not coming out from the agreement. We, therefore, hold that the finding recorded by the Appellate Tribunal is a finding of fact and there is nothing to interfere with the said finding. Accordingly, the question of law referred to us is answered in the affirmative, against the Revenue and in favour of the assessee. No costs.