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1 - 10 of 10 (0.23 seconds)Section 195 in The Income Tax Act, 1961 [Entire Act]
Article 12 in Constitution of India [Constitution]
The Disaster Management Act, 2005
Section 9 in The Income Tax Act, 1961 [Entire Act]
Section 201 in The Income Tax Act, 1961 [Entire Act]
C.I.T. vs Wipro Ltd. on 12 November, 2018
The assessee before us is a company incorporated, and fiscally domiciled, in Switzerland.
The assessee company is engaged in providing market research report on pharmaceutical
sector to its customers across the world at a predetermined subscription prices, The
company collects, processes and utilizes the data and information, particularly in the
field of medicine and pharmaceuticals for the delivery of reports through online IMS
knowledge link. The company enters into agreements with its customers for providing the
review reports (IMS reports) setting out the details of modules required to be accessed by
the customers and the consideration for these services. In essence thus, the IMS reports,
based on module selected, are statistical database compilations, providing geo
economical data, about a pharma molecule, providing insight into the connected issues
relating to information and developments. The licence access so granted is a non-
exclusive and non-transferable right. It is consideration received, as allowing this non-
exclusive, non-transferable access to the database and IMS reports which is subject
matter of dispute before us. The authorities below have held that in the light of Hon'ble
Karnataka High Court's judgment in the case of CIT Vs Wipro Ltd [(2011) 203 Taxman
621 (Kar)] and other judgments by the same Hon'ble High Court, which have been
followed by a coordinate bench of this Tribunal as well, these receipts are required to be
taxed as royalty under section 9(l)(vi) as also under article 12(3) of the Indo Swiss DTAA.
Otters Club, Mumbai vs Dit (E), Mumbai on 15 June, 2018
8. In the light of the above discussions, we are of the considered view that rather than
taking a pedantic view of the rule requiring pronouncement of orders within 90 days,
disregarding the important fact that the entire country was in lockdown, we should compute
the period of 90 days by excluding at least the period during which the lockdown was in
force. We must factor ground realities in mind while interpreting the time limit for the
pronouncement of the order. Law is not brooding omnipotence in the sky. It is a pragmatic
tool of the social order. The tenets of law being enacted on the basis of pragmatism, and that
is how the law is required to interpreted. The interpretation so assigned by us is not only in
consonance with the letter and spirit of rule 34(5) but is also a pragmatic approach at a time
when a disaster, notified under the Disaster Management Act 2005, is causing unprecedented
disruption in the functioning of our justice delivery system. Undoubtedly, in the case of
Otters Club Vs DIT [(2017) 392 ITR 244 (Bom)], Hon'ble Bombay High Court did not
approve an order being passed by the Tribunal beyond a period of 90 days, but then in the
present situation Hon'ble Bombay High Court itself has, vide judgment dated 15th April
2020, held that directed "while calculating the time for disposal of matters made time-
bound by this Court, the period for which the order dated 26th March 2020 continues
to operate shall be added and time shall stand extended accordingly". The extraordinary
steps taken suomotu by Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court and Hon'ble Supreme Court also
indicate that this period of lockdown cannot be treated as an ordinary period during which the
normal time limits are to remain in force. In our considered view, even without the words
"ordinarily", in the light of the above analysis of the legal position, the period during which
lockout was in force is to excluded for the purpose of time limits set out in rule 34(5) of the
Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1963. Viewed thus, the exception, to 90-day time-limit for
pronouncement of orders, inherent in rule 34(5)(c), with respect to the pronouncement of
orders within ninety days, clearly comes into play in the present case. Of course, there is no,
and there cannot be any, bar on the discretion of the benches to refix the matters for
clarifications because of considerable time lag between the point of time when the hearing is
concluded and the point of time when the order thereon is being finalized, but then, in our
considered view, no such exercise was required to be carried out on the facts of this case.
Finance Act, 1999
Article 13 in Constitution of India [Constitution]
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