Certificate of fitness requires a question of great public importance, not one confined to special facts of a single case.

A certificate under section 66A(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 is available only where the proposed appeal raises a question of great public importance affecting assessees generally. A question decided on the special facts of one case, or one of merely private importance to the assessee, does not meet that test. The Court held that the interpretation issue under section 4(3)(viii) was confined to exceptional facts and had not been shown to arise in a large or appreciable number of cases. The application for a certificate was therefore refused, and section 257 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 did not alter the certification standard.

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Issues: Whether the application for a certificate of fitness under section 66A(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 should be granted on the ground that the reference raised a question of wide public importance.

Analysis: The Court held that a certificate under section 66A(2) is not available merely because a question of law has been decided in a reference. The question must be one of great public importance affecting assessees generally and not depend only on the special facts of a particular case. The interpretation of section 4(3)(viii) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 in the present matter was confined to exceptional facts and there was no showing that the issue had arisen, or was likely to arise, in a large or appreciable number of cases. The Court also held that the certificate could not be justified on the basis of supposed private importance to the assessee, and that section 257 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 did not alter the test for certification under the 1922 Act.

Conclusion: The requirements for certification under section 66A(2) were not satisfied, and the application was not entitled to a certificate.

Final Conclusion: The proceeding failed because the question decided was held not to be one of such public importance as to warrant an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Ratio Decidendi: A certificate under section 66A(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 can be granted only where the proposed appeal raises a question of great public importance affecting assessees generally, and not a question confined to the special facts of an individual case.

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