Rectification cannot be used to withdraw refund interest where the issue is debatable and no patent mistake exists.

Rectification powers under the income-tax law are confined to correcting only obvious, patent mistakes and cannot be used to revisit a debatable legal issue. Where interest on refund was originally granted on revised assessment figures after appellate modification, the officer had adopted one possible view of the law; that view could not later be displaced through rectification merely because another interpretation was preferred. The withdrawal of interest was therefore invalid because the matter was not a mistake apparent from the record, and the issue was resolved in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer could invoke rectification powers to withdraw interest earlier granted on refund arising after appellate modification of the assessments, on the footing that the grant of such interest involved a mistake apparent from the record.

Analysis: The relevant question turned on the scope of the rectification provisions, which are confined to correcting obvious and patent mistakes and do not extend to matters requiring long-drawn reasoning or resolution of a debatable issue. The expression relating to the basis for calculating interest under the interest provision was held to be a difficult and controversial one, on which judicial opinion had differed. The officer had originally applied one possible view of the law when granting interest on the revised assessment figures, and that view could not later be displaced through rectification merely because another interpretation was subsequently preferred.

Conclusion: The rectification to withdraw the interest was not valid, as the matter was not a mistake apparent from the record; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

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