External development charges and TDS classification: prior final determination barred remand, and the demand deletion was upheld.

External development charges were examined for TDS treatment under section 194I as rent, with the Revenue alternatively seeking remand on the footing that section 194C applied to contractor payments. The Court noted that the same issue between the same parties had already been finally decided in the assessee's favour, and that the attempt to sustain the demand on a different TDS provision and to reopen the matter had been rejected. As a result, no substantial question of law survived, remand was declined, and the deletion of the TDS demand was upheld.

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Issues: Whether external development charges were liable to tax deduction at source, and whether the matter required remand to the Assessing Officer for fresh consideration.

Analysis: The assessment proceeded on the footing that the payment represented rent and attracted deduction under section 194I, while the Revenue alternatively pressed for remand on the basis that the payment should be treated as one made to a contractor under section 194C. The Court held that the very question had already been decided in the assessee's own matter, where the attempt to sustain the order on a different TDS provision and to remand the matter was rejected. In view of that binding and final determination between the same parties on an identical issue, no substantial question of law survived for reconsideration in the present appeal.

Conclusion: The challenge to the deletion of the demand failed. The Court declined remand and upheld the position that the assessee was not liable to the impugned TDS demand on the basis urged by the Revenue.

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