Commissioner of Income Tax vs Smt. Gayatri Devi

These two applications are being disposed of by a common order as they seek to raise identical questions on the same facts.

The applications pertain to the assessment years 1982-83 and 1983-84. The Income Tax Officer had disallowed the assessee''s claim for payment of interest on borrowings for payment of Income Tax and other taxes as a permissible deduction. On appeal, the claim was allowed by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The Department''s appeals against this order were dismissed by the Tribunal. While dismissing the appeals of the Department, the Tribunal merely adopted the reasons given in its earlier orders dismissing the Department''s appeals with respect to the earlier assessment years, namely, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78 and 1980 81, raising the same issues. In its earlier order, the Tribunal had held that the deductions claimed by the assessee of interest paid on monies borrowed for payment of income tax, etc., were legally admissible and hence rightly granted by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

It is not disputed that the question sought to be referred by means of these applications is the same on which it has already been referred by the Revenue u/s 256(1) with respect to the earlier assessment years referred to above.

Since the Tribunal''s order dismissing the Departmental appeal is based on the same reasoning on which its appeals for earlier assessment years were dismissed and since, with respect to those years, the Tribunal has already referred the question proposed, we think that for the two years in question also, the Tribunal should be asked to state the case.

The petitioner''s application u/s 256(1) of the Income Tax Act has, however, been rejected on the ground that the deduction claimed by the assessee being at all events admissible u/s 80V of the Act, there is no occasion for submitting the question for the opinion of the High Court.

The Tribunal was clearly in error is rejecting the application of the Revenue. With respect to the previous assessment years referred to above, the Tribunal had specifically declined to consider the impact of Section 80V on the claim of the assessee on the ground that the assessee was entitled to succeed in any case and it was, therefore, unnecessary to go into the question whether the deduction was also allowable u/s 80V. The Tribunal having specifically declined to go into this question, in our opinion, it was not open to it to reject the application of the Revenue on the same ground, namely, that the deduction claimed was allowable under that provision in any case.

We, accordingly, direct the Income tax Appellate Tribunal to state the case and refer the following question for our opinion :

" Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is justified in law in holding that the interest paid to M/s. Gwalior Agencies should be deducted from interest received from the joint ac count maintained with M/s. Gwalior Agencies and only the net interest should be brought to tax ? "

The applications are, accordingly, allowed with costs which we assess at Rs. 200 each.