Tribunal jurisdiction to entertain a new assessment ground extends beyond issues raised before the departmental appellate authority.

The Tribunal is not confined to grounds raised before the departmental appellate authority and may entertain a new ground relating to the assessment if it involves questions of law or fact already arising on the record. On that principle, refusal to consider the assessee's section 80J claim merely because it had not been raised before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was held unjustified. The court did not decide the merits of the deduction claim itself; it held only that the Tribunal had to consider the ground on merits. The remaining referred questions were left unanswered.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal was justified in refusing to entertain, for the first time in appeal before it, the assessee's ground claiming deduction under section 80J merely because the claim had not been raised before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

Analysis: The question whether a new ground can be raised before the Tribunal depends on the nature of the issue and the material already on record, but the governing principle is that the Tribunal is not confined to questions raised before the departmental authorities. All questions of law and fact relating to the assessment may be raised before it. The earlier decision treating the Tribunal's power to consider such questions as wide enough was applied here, and the fact that the claim had not been raised before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner did not by itself justify refusal to entertain it. The court did not go into the merits of the deduction claim itself, because the Tribunal had first to consider the ground on entertainment.

Conclusion: The Tribunal was not justified in refusing to entertain the section 80J ground on the sole reason that it had not been raised before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The issue was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding that the Tribunal must consider the assessee's section 80J ground on merits, and the remaining referred questions were left unanswered.

Ratio Decidendi: The Tribunal is competent to entertain a ground of appeal relating to the assessment even if it was not raised before the departmental appellate authority, because its jurisdiction extends to all questions of law and fact relating to the assessment.

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