The ITAT held that irrecoverable driver and employee balances...

The ITAT held that irrecoverable driver and employee balances written off were allowable as business loss, as the facts were identical to an earlier year in the assessee's own case and no distinguishing feature was shown by the Revenue; the disallowance was therefore unsustainable on the principle of consistency. It further held that a bad debt claim cannot be denied merely because the assessee did not prove exhaustive recovery efforts, since after the statutory amendment and the Supreme Court's ruling in TRF Ltd., the governing requirement is write-off in the accounts. The additions on account of both items were directed to be deleted.