Section 158A requires reasoned consideration of a declaration to defer recurring tax litigation pending another court decision.

Section 158A of the Income-tax Act is designed to prevent repetitive litigation on the same legal question across assessment years, and the appellate authority must evaluate a declaration under that scheme by calling for the Assessing Officer's report and passing a reasoned order. A non-speaking refusal based only on opposition to the declaration does not satisfy the statutory mandate. Because the underlying depreciation issue was already pending before the Delhi High Court in another matter, the proper course was to consider the declaration under Section 158A and then proceed in line with the final decision in that pending case. The impugned orders were set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration under the provision.

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Issues: Whether the appellate authority could decline to give effect to the declaration under Section 158A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 without properly applying the statutory scheme, and whether the matter required remand for consideration in accordance with that provision.

Analysis: Section 158A was enacted to avoid repetitive litigation on the same question of law in different assessment years. The scheme requires the appellate authority to call for the Assessing Officer's report, examine the correctness of the declaration, and pass a reasoned order admitting or rejecting it. A mere reliance on opposition to the declaration, without judicial evaluation of the statutory requirements, does not satisfy that mandate. Since the question of law on depreciation was already pending before the Delhi High Court in another case, the appropriate course was to deal with the declaration under Section 158A and then proceed in accordance with the final decision in that other case.

Conclusion: The declaration under Section 158A ought to have been considered in accordance with law, and the impugned orders could not be sustained. The matter was remanded with directions to admit the assessee's declaration and proceed under Section 158A(5) after the Delhi High Court decides the pending appeals.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory mechanism is enacted to defer a recurring question of law pending final adjudication in another case, the appellate authority must apply that mechanism by reasoned consideration and cannot bypass it through a non-speaking refusal.

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