Treaty protection for aircraft-related handling receipts upheld under Article 8, with identical prior rulings followed.

Income from ground handling and technical handling services received from other airlines was treated as falling within Article 8 of the India-Netherlands DTAA, on the footing that the receipts formed part of profits from the operation of aircraft in international traffic. The Tribunal followed its earlier coordinate-bench rulings in the assessee's own case, noting that the facts for the relevant year were identical and that no materially different legal or factual circumstances were shown. On that basis, it held the receipts not chargeable to tax in India and declined to depart from the prior treaty interpretation.

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Issues: Whether the income from ground handling and technical handling services received by the assessee from other airlines was taxable in India or was covered by Article 8 of the India-Netherlands Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

Analysis: The dispute was held to be covered by the earlier decisions of the Tribunal in the assessee's own case for prior assessment years. Those decisions had examined the scope of Article 8, the meaning of profits from the operation of aircraft in international traffic, and the effect of the assessee's participation in the relevant handling arrangement. The Tribunal found that the facts for the year under consideration were identical to those earlier years. It declined to depart from the earlier view because no materially different facts or legal circumstances were shown, and the prior orders had already concluded that such receipts were not chargeable to tax in India.

Conclusion: The income from ground handling and technical handling services was held not taxable in India and the assessee's appeal succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The Tribunal followed its earlier coordinate-bench rulings and treated the impugned receipts as outside Indian tax charge under the applicable treaty framework.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the facts are identical to prior binding coordinate-bench decisions and the treaty provisions have already been construed to exclude such receipts, the subsequent bench should ordinarily follow the earlier view and hold the income non-taxable.

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