Delhi High Court - Orders
Pr. Commissioner Of Income Tax Ltu, New ... vs M/S. Rural Electrification ... on 7 April, 2021
Author: Rajiv Shakdher
Bench: Rajiv Shakdher, Talwant Singh
$~4
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ ITA 91/2021 & CM APPL. 11216/2021
PR. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX LTU, NEW DELHI
..... Appellant
Through: Mr. Ajit Sharma, Sr. Standing
Counsel for revenue.
versus
M/S. RURAL ELECTRIFICATION CORPORATION LTD.
..... Respondent
Through: Mr. Mayank Nagi, Adv.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TALWANT SINGH
ORDER
% 07.04.2021
1. This is revenue‟s appeal which is directed against the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal [in short the "Tribunal"] dated 25.11.2019, passed in ITA No. 3744/Del/2015 [assessee's appeal] and ITA No. 3488/ Del/2015 [revenue‟s appeal] concerning assessment year 2008-2009.
2. The revenue, via the appeal, seeks to agitate the deletions made to the disallowances ordered by the Assessing Officer qua the following provision/expenses:
(i) Provision made for post-retirement medical expenses by the assessee.ITA 91/2021 1/3 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.04.2021 13:32:05
(ii) Interest income which accrued to Cooperative Electrical Supply Society Ltd, Siricilla, which was neither shown as taxable income of the said Society or the assessee.
(iii) Interest income, which is sought to be taxed in the hands of the assessee, although, the same has already been offered to tax by various cooperative societies.
3. Insofar as the first issue is concerned, it is not in dispute that the Tribunal, based on its own decision in assessment year 2009-2010, decided the same in favour of the assessee.
4. The Tribunal notes that via its decision for assessment year 2009- 2010, it concluded that the post-retirement medical scheme provision created a definite liability.
4.1 In this behalf, Accounting Standard [AS] 15 issued by the ICAI is taken note of.
5. We are informed by Mr. Ajit Sharma, learned senior standing counsel, who appears for the revenue that the revenue did carry the aspects referred to in paragraph 2 above in appeal to this Court in an earlier round with respect to the aforementioned aspects.
6. It is stated by Mr. Sharma that insofar as the provision for post- retirement medical expenses was concerned, this Court in ITA No.1026/2018 vide order dated 19.09.2018 has ruled that no substantial question of law arose vis-a-vis the said aspect.
ITA 91/2021 2/3 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.04.2021 13:32:057. As regards the third aspect, the Tribunal, in paragraph 8 of the impugned order, has noted that the assessing officer made inquiries with the concerned cooperative societies and found that they had offered to tax, interest, which accrued to them 7.1 In view of this finding of fact, in our view, the same income [i.e., interest] cannot be taxed in the hands of the assessee. 7.2 Accordingly, we are of the view that insofar as the third aspect is concerned, no substantial question of law arises.
8. Therefore, what we are left with is only the second aspect.
9. Accordingly, the instant appeal is admitted vis-a-vis the second aspect noticed in para 2 above and the following question of law is framed:
Whether the Tribunal misdirected itself in law and on facts in deleting from the taxable income of the assessee interest which accrued to Cooperative Electrical Supply Society Ltd., Siricilla?
10. List the matter in the regular category according to its age and seniority.
11. In the meanwhile, the parties will file with the Registry of this Court the record of the case.
RAJIV SHAKDHER, J TALWANT SINGH, J APRIL 7, 2021/pmc Click here to check corrigendum, if any ITA 91/2021 3/3 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:VIPIN KUMAR RAI Signing Date:10.04.2021 13:32:05