The HC ruled that compounding fees/fines recovered from illegal...

The HC ruled that compounding fees/fines recovered from illegal miners and transporters under Section 23A of the MMDR Act are not subject to TCS under Section 206C(1C) of the IT Act. The court held that "royalty" and "compounding fee" are mutually exclusive terms, with royalty being payable by lawful mining lease holders under Section 9(1) of the MMDR Act, while compounding fees relate to settlement of illegal mining offences. The court emphasized that compounding under Section 23A has the effect of acquittal, similar to Section 320 of the CrPC. Since there is no legislative mandate to collect TCS on compounding fees, the ITAT's contrary decision was set aside, ruling in favour of the assessee.

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