TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (8) TMI 482
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.... factory building etc. Such advances amounted to Rs. 1,11,42,973/- in the year 1991-1992. The appellant claimed exemption under Section 54G of the Income Tax Act on the entire capital gain earned from the sale proceeds of its erstwhile industrial undertaking situate in Thane in view of the advances so made being more than the capital gain made by it. 2. By an order dated 31.3.1994, the Assessing Officer imposed a tax on capital gains, refusing to grant exemption to the appellant under Section 54G. The reasons given were: "7. I have carefully considered the submission of the assessee. In this case, it is to be noted that the non urban area has not been declared to be so by any general or special order of the Central Govt. Therefore, the assessee cannot take the plea that it has shifted the undertaking to a non urban area. The second point is regarding utilization of capital gains. In this case, the assessee has given advances to different persons. However, such advance does not amount to utilization of capital gains. The assessee is required to acquire the plant and machinery within the time frame spelt out in sub-section (1) of Section 54G. However, if it fails to acqui....
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.... 22.9.1967 by which Thane had been declared to be an urban area for the purpose of Chapter XXII-B. He further contended that Section 54G was inserted on 1.4.1988 at the same time that Section 280ZA was omitted and that therefore Section 24 of the General Clauses Act would be attracted to the facts of this case. That being so, the notification dated 22.9.1967 would enure to the benefit of the appellant for the purpose of claiming exemption from capital gains under Section 54G. He also argued that Section 280Y(d), which was omitted with effect from 1990, had been so omitted because it had been rendered redundant with the omission of Section 280ZA. Further, according to learned counsel, on a correct interpretation of Section 54G, the assessee gets a period of three years after the date on which the transfer has taken place to purchase new machinery and plant, and acquire land or construct building. Further, in order to avail the benefit of Section 54G all that the assessee has to do in the assessment year in question is to "utilize" the amount of capital gain for the purposes aforesaid before the date of furnishing the return of income under Section 139. If that is done, it is not nec....
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....taking to any area (not being the area in which such undertaking is situate), it shall be granted a tax credit certificate. (2) The tax credit certificate to be granted under sub-section (1) shall be for an amount computed in the following manner with reference to the amount of the tax payable by the company on its income chargeable under the head "Capital gains" arising from the transfer of capital assets, being machinery or plant or buildings or lands or any rights in buildings or lands used for the purposes of the business of the said undertaking in the urban area, effected in the course of or in consequence of the shifting of such industrial undertaking, namely:- (a) the amount of expenditure incurred by the company in- (i) purchasing new machinery or plant for the purposes of the business of the company in the area to which the undertaking is shifted; (ii) acquiring lands or constructing buildings for the purposes of its business in the said area; and (iii) shifting its machinery or plant and other effects and transferring its establishment to such area, within a period of three years, from the date of the approval referred....
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....e;che, school, canteen, library, recreational centre, shelter, rest-room or lunch-room shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be land or building used for the purposes of the business of the company. The notification dated 22.9.1967 issued under Section 280Y(d) reads as under:- "In pursuance of clause (d) of section 280Y of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) the Central Government hereby declares the areas shown in column (3) of the Schedule hereto annexed and forming part of the territory of the State or the Union territory, as the case may be, specified in the corresponding entry in column (2) thereof to be "urban areas" for the purposes of Chapter XXII-B of the said Act, namely:- SCHEDULE Serial No. Name of the State or the Union territory Details of the area (1) ....
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....hich the transfer took place, it shall be dealt with in accordance with the following provisions of this section, that is to say,- (i) if the amount of the capital gain is greater than the cost and expenses incurred in relation to all or any of the purposes mentioned in clauses (a) to (d) (such cost and expenses being hereafter in this section referred to as the new asset), the difference between the amount of the capital gain and the cost of the new asset shall be charged under section 45 as the income of the previous year; and for the purpose of computing in respect of the new asset any capital gain arising from its transfer within a period of three years of its being purchased, acquired, constructed or transferred, as the case may be, the cost shall be nil; or (ii) if the amount of the capital gain is equal to, or less than, the cost of the new asset, the capital gain shall not be charged under section 45; and for the purpose of computing in respect of the new asset any capital gain arising from its transfer within a period of three years of its being purchased, acquired, constructed or transferred, as the case may be, the cost shall be reduced by the amount of....
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....d Minister stated:- "83. Concentration of industries in many of our urban areas poses serious problems of congestion, pollution and hazards. In order to encourage industries to shift out of such areas, I propose to exempt capital gains made on the sale of land and buildings in such areas provided these are reinvested in approved relocation schemes." 10. Further, the notes on clauses for the Finance Bill, 1987 reads as under:- "Clause 24 seeks to insert two new sections 54G and 54H in the Income-tax Act. The new section 54G provides for exemption of capital gains on transfer of assets in cases of industrial undertaking shifting from urban area. Sub-section (1) provides that if an assessee transfers a long-term capital asset in the nature of machinery, plant, building or land used for the purposes of the business of the industrial undertaking situated in an urban area in connection with the shifting of such undertaking to a non-urban area, and within a period of one year before or three years after the date of transfer, purchases new machinery or plant and acquires land or building or constructs building for the purposes of his business in the area to wh....
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....ate scheme together with the prior approval required by the Board and to substitute the repealed provision with the new scheme contained in Section 54G. It is true that Section 280Y(d) was only omitted by the Finance Act, 1990 and was not omitted together with Section 280ZA. However, we agree with learned counsel for the appellant that this would make no material difference inasmuch as Section 280Y(d) is a definition Section defining "urban area" for the purpose of Section 280ZA only and for no other purpose. It is clear that once Section 280ZA is omitted from the statute book, Section 280Y(d) having no independent existence would for all practical purposes also be "dead". Quite apart from this, Section 54G(1) by its explanation introduces the very definition contained in Section 280Y(d) in the same terms. Obviously, both provisions are not expected to be applied simultaneously and it is clear that the explanation to Section 54G(1) repeals by implication Section 280Y(d). 13. Repeal by implication has been dealt with by at least two judgments of this Court. In State of Orissa and another v. M/s M.A. Tulloch and Co., (1964) 4 SCR 461, this Court considered the question as to wheth....
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....ntroduced with effect from 1st April, 1965, tax credit certificates were granted to assessees fulfilling certain conditions. These certificates were to be utilized for the adjustment of the tax liability or for refund or both. This Chapter has now become virtually redundant and is, therefore, being omitted. However, if a person still possesses any tax credit certificates granted under section 280Z or section 280ZC, he shall be allowed to utilize the same up to 31st March, 1991.This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 1990." Equally, the Memorandum explaining the provisions in the Finance Bill also stated:- "40. Chapter XXII-B of the Income-tax Act, contains provisions relating to tax credit certificates. This was introduced with effect from 1st April, 1965, with various objects, viz., providing an incentive to individuals and Hindu undivided families for investing in newly-floated equity shares of certain companies (section 280Z), facilitating the shifting of industrial undertakings of public companies from urban areas to new areas with a view to relieving congestion in urban areas (section 280ZA), providing resources for purposes relevant to the expansion of ind....
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....entral Act] or Regulation, which, by a notification under section 5 or 5A of the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874, (14 of 1874) or any like law, has been extended to any local area, has, by a subsequent notification, been withdrawn from the re-extended to such area or any part thereof, the provisions of such Act or Regulation shall be deemed to have been repealed and re-enacted in such area or part within the meaning of this section]" 16. In Poonjabhai Vanmalidas v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Ahmedabad, 1992 Supp. (1) SCC 182, this Court in construing Section 24 of the General Clauses Act held:- "7. The effect of Section 24 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, insofar as it is material, is that where the repealed and re-enacted provisions are not inconsistent with each other, any order made under the repealed provisions is deemed to be an order made under the re-enacted provisions. The question, therefore, is whether the provisions of the repealed Section 10(2)(xi), under which the bad debts were written off as irrecoverable in the books of the assessee, are in terms re-enacted by the repealing Act. A comparative table furnished in The Law and Practice of Income Tax, K....
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....ifications have not expressly been saved by Section 30 of the Act, those would not enure or survive to govern any investigation done or legal proceedings instituted in respect of the cases registered under the 1988 Act. There is no dispute that the 1988 Act is both repealing and re-enacting the law relating to prevention of corruption to which the provisions of Section 24 of the General Clauses Act are specifically applicable. It appears that as Section 6 of the General Clauses Act applies to repealed enactments, the legislature in its wisdom thought it proper to make the same specifically applicable in the 1988 Act also which is a repealing and re-enacted statute. Reference to Section 6 of the General Clauses Act in sub-section (1) of Section 30 has been made to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding regarding the effect of repeal with regard to actions taken under the repealed Act. If the legislature had intended not to apply the provisions of Section 24 of the General Clauses Act to the 1988 Act, it would have specifically so provided under the enacted law. In the light of the fact that Section 24 of the General Clauses Act is specifically applicable to the repealing and re-ena....
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.... for they do indeed say that in Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, the word "repeal" would not take within its ken an "omission". 21. In Rayala Corporation (P) Ltd., what fell for decision was whether proceedings could be validly continued on a complaint in respect of a charge made under Rule 132A of the Defence of India Rules, which ceased to be in existence before the accused were convicted in respect of the charge made under the said rule. The said Rule 132A was omitted by a notification dated 30th March, 1966. What was decided in that case is set out by paragraph 17 of the said judgment, which is as follows: "17. Reference was next made to a decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in State of Madhya Pradesh v. Hiralal Sutwala [AIR 1959 MP 93] but, there again, the accused was sought to be prosecuted for an offence punishable under an Act on the repeal of which Section 6 of the General Clauses Act had been made applicable. In the case before us, Section 6 of the General Clauses Act cannot obviously apply on the omission of Rule 132-A of the DIRs for the two obvious reasons that Section 6 only applies to repeals and not to omissions, and applies when the repeal i....
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....secution in cases of non-compliance of the provision therein contained was only transitional and cases covered by it were few and far between, and hence found on facts that it was not an appropriate case for reference to a larger bench. 25. We may also point out that in G.P. Singh's Principles of Statutory Interpretation, 12th Edition, the learned author has criticized the aforesaid judgments in the following terms: "Section 6 of the General Clauses Act applies to all types of repeals. The section applies whether the repeal be express or implied, entire or partial or whether it be repeal simpliciter or repeal accompanied by fresh legislation. The section also applies when a temporary statute is repealed before its expiry, but it has no application when such a statute is not repealed but comes to an end by expiry. The section on its own terms is limited to a repeal brought about by a Central Act or Regulation. A rule made under an Act is not a Central Act or regulation and if a rule be repealed by another rule, section 6 of the General Clauses Act will not be attracted. It has been so held in two Constitution Bench decisions. The passing observation in these cases that "....
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....t or Regulation - Where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act repeals any enactment by which the text of any Central Act or Regulation was amended by the express omission, insertion or substitution of any matter, then, unless a different intention appears, the repeal shall not affect the continuance of any such amendment made by the enactment so repealed and in operation at the time of such repeal." 29. A reading of this Section would show that a repeal can be by way of an express omission. This being the case, obviously the word "repeal" in both Section 6 and Section 24 would, therefore, include repeals by express omission. The absence of any reference to Section 6A, therefore, again undoes the binding effect of these two judgments on an application of the 'per incuriam' principle. In Mamleshwar Prasad & Anr. v. Kanahaiya Lal (dead) through LRs., (1975) 3 SCR 834, Krishna Iyer, J., succinctly laid down what is meant by the "per incuriam" principle. He stated: "We do not intend to detract from the rule that, in exceptional instances, whereby obvious inadvertence or oversight a judgment fails to notice a plain statutory provision or obliga....
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.... are drafted......." (At page 484) 31. The two later Constitution Bench judgments also did not have the benefit of the aforesaid exposition of the law. It is clear that even an implied repeal of a statute would fall within the expression "repeal" in Section 6 of the General Clauses Act. This is for the reason given by the Constitution Bench in M.A. Tulloch & Co. that only the form of repeal differs but there is no difference in intent or substance. If even an implied repeal is covered by the expression "repeal", it is clear that repeals may take any form and so long as a statute or part of it is obliterated, such obliteration would be covered by the expression "repeal" in Section 6 of the General Clauses Act. 32. In fact in Halsbury's Laws of England Fourth Edition, it is stated that: "So far as express repeal is concerned, it is not necessary that any particular form of words should be used. (R v. Longmead, (1795) 2 Leach 694 at 696). All that is required is that an intention to abrogate the enactment or portion in question should be clearly shown. (Thus, whilst the formula "is hereby repealed" is frequently used, it is equally common for it to be provided that an e....
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....uld apply, and the notification of 1967, declaring Thane to be an urban area, would be continued under and for the purposes of Section 54A. 36. A reading of Section 54G makes it clear that the assessee is given a window of three years after the date on which transfer has taken place to "purchase" new machinery or plant or "acquire" building or land. We find that the High Court has completely missed the window of three years given to the assessee to purchase or acquire machinery and building or land. This is why the expression used in 54G(2) is "which is not utilized by him for all or any of the purposes aforesaid....". It is clear that for the assessment year in question all that is required for the assessee to avail of the exemption contained in the Section is to "utilize" the amount of capital gains for purchase and acquisition of new machinery or plant and building or land. It is undisputed that the entire amount claimed in the assessment year in question has been so "utilized" for purchase and/or acquisition of new machinery or plant and land or building. 37. The High Court is not correct when it states:- "31. The word 'purchase' is not defined under the Act and ....