Interim stay on High Court rulings allowed pending assessments to proceed independently of those observations.

The Supreme Court granted an interim stay of the impugned High Court judgments pending disposal of the matters and allowed the Department to complete the pending assessments under section 44AC without being bound by the High Court's observations. The operative effect was to preserve the existing position until final disposal while preventing the High Court rulings from controlling the assessment process in the meantime.

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Issues: Whether the operation of the impugned High Court judgments should be stayed pending disposal of the matters, and whether the Department should be permitted to complete assessments involving section 44AC.

Outcome: The Court granted an interim stay of the operation of the impugned judgments and permitted the Department to complete the pending assessments without being bound by the High Court's observations.

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