Pension payment deduction denied where binding precedent on the same assessee governed the computation of income.

Pension payments made to retired employees were held not deductible in computing the assessee's income for the three assessment years in question. The issue was identical across all years, and an earlier decision denying the same deduction to the same assessee had already been affirmed. In the absence of any distinguishing feature, that binding precedent governed the reference, so the assessee failed on the deduction claim and the questions were answered in the affirmative against it.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to deduction of amounts representing pension payments made to retired employees in computing income for the assessment years 1973-74, 1974-75 and 1975-76.

Analysis: The question was identical for all three years. The same assessee had earlier been denied such deduction, and that view had subsequently been affirmed. In the absence of any distinguishing feature, the prior binding decision governed the reference.

Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to deduction of the pension payments in the computation of income. The answer to the referred questions was in the affirmative and against the assessee.

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