Tribunal rules in favor of assessee on interest deletion for assessment year 2001-02

The Tribunal dismissed the Revenue's appeal against the deletion of interest under section 234D for the assessment year 2001-2002. The Tribunal held that interest under section 234D is chargeable from Assessment Year 2004-05 onwards based on conflicting decisions from different High Courts, adopting the view favoring the assessee in the absence of a decision from the Jurisdictional High Court.

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Issues involved: Appeal filed by Revenue against deletion of interest u/s 234D for assessment year 2001-2002.

Summary:
The Revenue appealed against the deletion of interest levied u/s 234D of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for the assessment year 2001-2002. The ld. CIT(A) had deleted the interest based on the decision of the Delhi Special Tribunal in a previous case. The Revenue argued that interest u/s 234D was chargeable from 1.6.2003 based on a decision of the Hon'ble Kerala High Court. On the other hand, the assessee cited a decision of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court to support that interest u/s 234D was applicable only from Assessment Year 2004-05 onwards. Since there were conflicting decisions from different High Courts, the Tribunal followed the principle that when there are two views from different High Courts and no decision from the Jurisdictional High Court, the view favoring the assessee should be adopted. Therefore, the Tribunal held that interest u/s 234D is chargeable from Assessment Year 2004-05 onwards and dismissed the appeal of the Revenue.

In conclusion, the appeal of the Revenue was dismissed by the Tribunal based on the interpretation of the applicability of interest u/s 234D as per different High Court decisions and the principle favoring the assessee in the absence of a decision from the Jurisdictional High Court.

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