Union Of India And Anr vs Azadi Bachao Andolan And Anr on 7 October, 2003
10. Section 90 of the Income-tax Act is not a charging Section. The above Section gives relief to the taxpayers from paying tax in two countries if the conditions in the Section are fulfilled. It empowers the Central Government to enter into an agreement with the foreign countries for the granting of reliefs in respect of double taxation. By the agreement or treaty made under this Section, no tax liability is created ; but, the assessee can resort to the agreement for reducing or negativing the tax liability provided that his claim is coming within the four corners of the agreements as held by the apex court in Union of India v. Azadi Bachao Andolan [2003] 263 ITR 706--see pages 723, 724. In the above case, the court also held that the principles to be adopted for the interpretation of treaties are not the same as those governing the interpretation of the statute. In any event, the interpretation rules need be looked into only if the wording is ambiguous or reasonably capable of two meanings.