TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (8) TMI 1011
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....(4) of the Act. He read before us the said section 80 IA(4)(i) of the Act and submitted that by the Finance Act, 2001 with effect from 1-4-2002 which was amended as follows:- "(i) developing or (ii) operating and maintaining or (iii) developing, operating and maintaining a mew infrastructure substituted (i) developing (maintaining or operating or (iii) developing, maintaining and operating." 4. He also drew our attention to the Circular No. 14 of 2001 which reads as under: Circular No. 14/2001 Explanatory Notes Finance Act, 2001 - Explanatory Notes on provisions relating to Direct Taxes Definition of 'Infrastructure facility' in section 10(23G) to be same as that in section BO-IA(4) 17.1 Under the existing provisions contained in clause (23G) of section 10, any income of an infrastructure capital fund or an infrastructure capital company by way of interest, dividend (other than dividends referred to in section 115-0) and long term capital gains from investment made by way of equity or long-term finance in an approved enterprise wholly engaged in the business of (i) developing, (ii) maintaining and operating, or (iii) developing, maintaining and operating an infrastructu....
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....it is that transfer under BOT (Build, Own, Transfer) or BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) schemes has to be met. 47.2 Investments in infrastructure have to compete with investment in other sectors to be attractive. There is, in particular, a need to encourage investment in the area of surface transport, water supply, water treatment system, irrigation project, sanitation and sewerage system or solid waste management systems. With this in view, section Bo-IA has been amended to relax the existing two tier benefit to provide a ten year tax holiday. Keeping in view, their capital intensive nature, the higher allowances of depreciation in the initial years to such enterprises and the need for improved cash flows, an infrastructure facility in the nature of a road (including a toll road), bridge, rail system, highway project, water supply project, sanitation, sewerage and solid waste management system shall be allowed a ten year tax holiday in place of a two-tier tax holiday. Such an enterprise may avail of the tax holiday consecutively for any ten years out of twenty years beginning from the year in which the undertaking begins operating the infrastructure facility. 47.3 In the....
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....overnment would be eligible for deduction under section 801A of the Act. He drew our attention to the decision of the Mumbai ITAT in the case of ACIT vs. Bharat Udyog Limited (118 ITD 336) wherein held that:- "The amendment in section 80-IA was brought about by the Finance Act, 1995, with effect from 1-4-1996. By virtue of this amendment, the deduction under section 80-IA was provided to any enterprise carrying on the business of developing, maintaining and operating the infrastructure facility. Thus, to be eligible for this deduction, an assessee was required to carry out all the three activities, i.e., (i) to develop, (ii) to maintain and (iii) to operate. After the amendment effected in section 80-IA by the Finance Act, 1999 with effect from 1-4-2000, the deduction under section 80-IA(4) became available to any enterprise carrying on the business of (i) developing or (ii) maintaining and operating, or (iii) developing, maintaining and operating any infrastructure facility. [Para 7] Sub-clause (c) of section 80-IA(4) is applicable to an enterprise which is engaged in 'operating and maintaining' the infrastructure facility on or after 1-4- 1995. It is not applicable to the case ....
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....n eligible construction activity, that is, activity eligible for deduction under section 80-IA inasmuch as mere 'development' as such and un-associated/unaccompanied with 'operate' and 'maintenance' also falls within such business activity as is eligible for deduction under section 80-IA. Therefore, merely because the assessee was paid by the Government, for development work, it could not be denied deduction under section 80-IA (4). A person, who enters into a contract with another person, would be a contractor no doubt; and the assessee having entered into an agreement with the Government agencies for development of the infrastructure projects, was obviously a contractor; but that did not derogate the assessee from being a developer as well. The term 'contractor' is not essentially contradictory to the term 'developer'. On the other hand, rather section 80-IA(4) itself provides that the assessee should develop the infrastructure facility as per the agreement with the Central Government, State Government or a local authority. So, entering into a lawful agreement and thereby becoming a contractor should, in no way, be a bar to the one being a developer. Therefore, merely because, in....
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.... been purchased from the customer, who orders the product. When the material is purchased from the customer who orders the products, it constitutes a contract of work, while, on the other hand, where the manufacturer has sourced the material from a person other than the customer, it would constitute a sale. What is significant is that in using the words which clause (e) uses in the Explanation, the Parliament has taken note of the position that was reflected in the circulars issued by the CBDT since 29-5-1972. The judgment of the Supreme Court in Associated Cement Co. Ltd. v. CIT [1993J 201 ITR 435/ 67 Taxman 346 gave an expansive definition to the expression 'work' and rejected the attempt of the assessee in that case to restrict the expression 'work' to works contract. Both before and after the judgment of the Supreme Court, the expansive definition of the expression 'work' co-existed with the revenue's understanding that a contract for sale would not be within the purview of section 194C. The revenue always understood section 194C to mean that, though a product or thing is manufactured to the specifications of a customer, the agreement would constit....
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....to sell under his brand name, or trademark, manufactured from a third party would be interested in ensuring the quality of the product. The trademark has associated with it an assurance of the quality of the goods which are marketed and are traceable to the origin of the goods. Associated with the trademark is the goodwill and reputation which is associated with the mark. This is particularly so in the case of a pharmaceutical product where the ultimate consumer is legitimately entitled to ensure that her health is not prejudiced by the consumption of a product not meeting prescribed standards. The owner of a mark, therefore, introduces specifications to ensure that the product meets the standards justifiably associated with the reputation of the mark. The specification ensures the observance of standards. Similarly, a clause relating to exclusivity is not inconsistent with a transaction of sale. Here again much depends upon the nature of the product. Restrictive covenants of this kind are intended to protect the intellectual and other property rights of a party which markets its goods by requiring a manufacturer to observe norms of specifications and exclusivity. The law is, th....
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....ject site to manufacture project specific pipes as per the required specifications which requires well equipped machines, employment of skilled labour and technical experts, equipment to transport heavy pipes to laying sites, equipment to lift and lowering of pipes at the excavated sites, provide qualified and experience engineer for each project site etc to bring in to existence an infrastructure facility. Manufacturing of pipes to sites, excavation under various conditions of soil and rock, lowering and laying of pipes, jointing and testing of pipe joint and pipe line as a whole, construction of pump houses, storage tank/collection well, treatment plants, distribution plants etc and all these together develop in to a new infrastructure water supply facility. 8. Accordingly, the assessee is entitled for deduction under section 80IA of the Act. He submitted that the assessing officer ignored the fact that in all the contracts handed over to the assessee for development of the infrastructure facility. In few cases, after operation for certain period, had to re-hand over back the entire site with the infrastructure facility developed to the owner. He drew our attention to the copies....
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....sessee engaged in development of infrastructure facility by way of constructing irrigation canals and irrigation systems. In this connection, he drew our attention to the order of the Tribunal in the case of B.T. Patil & Sons cited supra specifically to paras 36 to 41 which reads as follows:- "36. Here it is important to mention that the Legislature inserted the word 'or' between (i) and (ii) with effect from 1-4-2002, which is applicable to assessment year 2002-03. So with effect from the assessment year 2002-03, not only the enterprise (i) developing, (ii) operating and maintaining the infrastructure facility shall be entitled to deduction, but also the enterprise which is only (i) developing or (ii) operating and maintaining the infrastructure facility. From such year onwards the enterprise which only develops the infrastructure facility and thereafter transfers it to someone else for operating and maintaining on behalf of transferee shall also be covered for the purposes of granting benefit. The difference in the situation between assessment year 2002-03 onwards and prior two years is that whereas the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure facility on behalf o....
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....al Representative submitted that the construction is a minor part of the development. According to him, development includes the works to be done relating to the planning, designing, engineering and financing, etc., of the project. He relied on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. v. State of Orissa [1984) 55 STC 327 in which it has been observed that in a contract for work, the person producing has no property in the thing produced as a whole, even if part or whole of the material used by him may have been his property earlier. He also relied on another judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Tamil Nadu v. Anandam Vishwanathan [1989) 1 SCC 613 in which it was held that the nature of contract can be found only when the intention of parties is found out. The fact that in the execution of the works contract some material are used and the property in the goods so used passes to the other party, the contractor undertaking the work will not necessarily be deemed, on that account, to sell the material. It was, therefore, argued that the developer is a person who brings in additional resources by way of investment and te....
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.... Court held that : "it is well-settled that in the absence of there being anything contrary to the context, the language of a statute should be interpreted according to the plain dictionary meaning of the terms used therein". Similar view has been expressed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CWT v. Officer-In- Charge (Court of Wards) [1976]105 ITR 133 in which it was held that the ordinary dictionary meaning of a word cannot be disregarded. 40. Coming back to our point of ascertaining the meaning of the words 'contractor' as well as 'developer', which have neither been defined in the Act nor in the General Clauses Act, we fall upon Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary to find out their meaning. According to this dictionary, . "developer" is a person or company that designs and creates new products, whereas "contractor" is a person or a company that has a contract to do work or provides services or goods to another. The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines the word "contractor" as : person who enters into a contract or agreement. Now chiefly spec. a person or firm that undertakes work by contract, esp. for building to specified plans". In the ligh....
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....) wherein held that: "Section 80-IA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, was introduced to provide an impetus to the growth of infrastructure in the nation. A sound infrastructure is a sine qua non for economic development. Absence of infrastructure poses significant barriers to growth and development. A model which relied exclusively on the provision of basic infrastructure by the State was found to be deficient. Section 80-lA was an instrument of legislative policy, conceived with a view to provide an impetus to private sector participation in infrastructural projects. Contemporaneously, with the provisions which were made by Parliament in section 80-IA of the Act, explanatory circulars issued in an administrative capacity by the Central Board of Direct Taxes held the field. These circulars gave expression to the scope and ambit of the concession was provided by section 80-lA. The evolution of section 80-lA would show a progressive liberalisation of the legislative scheme, in the interests of aiding the growth of infrastructure. The administrative circulars issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in implementation of section 80-IA similarly liberalised the scheme, consistent....
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....operation and maintenance of infrastructure facility on or after April 1, 1995. The requirement that the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure facility should commence after April 1, 1995 has to be harmoniously construed with the main provision under which a deduction is available to an assessee who develops; or 'operates and maintains; or develops, operates and maintains an infrastructure facility. Unless both the provisions are harmoniously construed, the object intent underlying the amendment of the provision by the Finance Act of 2001 would be defeated. A harmonious reading of the provision in its entirety would lead to the conclusion that the deduction is available to an enterprise which (i) develops; or (ii) operates and maintains; or (iii) develops maintains and operates that infrastructure facility. However, the commencement of the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure facility should be after April 1, 1995. The assessee, in terms of the policy of the Government of India to encourage private sector participation in the development of infrastructure, bid for and was awarded a contract for leasing of container handling cranes at the Jawaharlal Nehru ....
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....rming the award of contracts to the assessee on September 2, 1994 and October, 16, 1995 for supply, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance of container handling equipment on lease for a period of ten years for loading and unloading of containers at the port and that the cranes that were to be supplied by the assessee formed an integral part of the port. JNPT clarified that the contracts had been executed under the BOLT scheme and in accordance with its directions; the cranes would be transferred to the port trust at no cost on the expiry of a period of ten years of the commencement of the contract. The obligations which had been assumed by the assessee under the terms of the contract were obligations involving the development of an infrastructure facility. Section 80-IA of the Act essentially contemplated a deduction in a situation where an enterprise carried on the business of developing, maintaining and operating an infrastructure facility. A port was defined to be included within the purview of the expression "infrastructure facility". The obligations which the assessee assumed under the terms of the contract were not merely for supply and installation of the crane....
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....ious authorities, project has been undertaken on turnkey basis. The project also includes operation and maintenance for a period one year to two year. As the assessee is engaged in designing, manufacturing of pipes, maintenance, operating and maintenance of the project and more so the assessee itself incurred expenditure for procuring men and materials, machines and the investment is by the assessee itself, being so it can not be equated with Indian Home pies Company. Further, in the case of Indian Home pies Company, the Tribunal has recorded the finding of fact that there is no dispute that the assessee is covered by the Explanation below the section 80IA(13) of the Income Tax Act. But in the case of present assessee, it has been disputed the applicability of Explanation to section 80IA(13) s the undertaken various contracts on turnkey basis as submitted in earlier paras. 13. On the other hand, the learned departmental representative submitted that the meaning of the word "developer" and the eligibility of the business to claim deduction meant for 'development of infrastructural facilities' within the meaning of section 80IA has to be seen in the context of the genesis and legis....
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....of commencement. 14. The particulars furnished in the paper book shows the rate analysis, Bill of quantities etc., which makes it clear that the assessee had no autonomy in matters of design and specification which completely vested with the employer. The only lawful entitlement of the assessee was to be paid for the measurement of work completed at rates agreed upon. The partial and sectional nature of the proposed work is immediately clear from this notice and it is also apparent from this that the section of the road proposed for improvement has no independent existence capable of satisfying the requirement of section 80 IA (2). Therefore, this project is incapable of commencement of operations by itself, or to qualify the larger infrastructure facility of which it is a part. 15. The DR submitted that the contractor was granted mobilisation advance as well as interest-free advance for machinery purchase, should be required them and it would be readily apparent from the agreement that there is no element of entrepreneurial initiative or financial participation of the contractor in this kind of a project The successful bidder merely executes a Government contract and gets paid f....
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....for sale. 17. The ld. DR placed reliance on the decision of jurisdictional High Court in the case of Dr. Mrs. Renuka Datla vs. CIT (240 ITR 463) (AP), that provisions granting exemptions have to be strictly construed. It was held by the Supreme Court in the case of IPCA Laboratory Limited vs. DCIT (SC) 266 ITR 521 that when there is no ambiguity, provisions cannot be interpreted to confer a benefit upon the assessee. The provision is incapable of application to the facts of the assessee's case because the assessee is only an executor of a contract, which is in turn, part of a larger project undertaken by the Government, or its agency. It has been argued in rejoinder by the departmental representative that such reliance is neither correct nor relevant in deciding the issues on hand. In the case of Laxmi Civil Engg. Pvt. Ltd., the argument of the assessee that was accepted by the ITAT, Pune Bench is broadlythe assessee is a contractor, every contractor is a developer as per the Mumbai High Court decision in the case of ABG Heavy Industries and a developer need not operate and maintain the infrastructure facility, as held by the Mumbai High Court in the case of ABG Heavy Industries. ....
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....cture contract cases, only in so far as the facts of the case are compatible. For the same reason, there can be no adverse implication for the precedent value of the B T Patil case. As submitted hereinabove, on immediate and necessary consequence of the retrospective amendment introduced by the Finance Act, 2009 inserting Explanation below section 80 IA(13), is that any business transacted in terms of a works contract stands disqualified from seeking deduction under section 80I(A(4). The decision of the Mumbai High Court in the case of ABG would have no application from this point of view also. Since the agreement in ABG was a BOLT agreement and not a works contract their Lordships had no occasion to consider the Explanation introduced in Finance Act, 2009 with effect from 1-4- 2001. Even if it is assumed, hypothetically, that the agreement in ABG was in the nature of a works contract, or that every contractor was a developer, the decision of the Mumbai High Court without considering the Explanation cannot operate to overrule the ITAT's decision in the case of B.T. Patil where the Bench of the Tribunal considered the effect of the explanation and it was explained by the Hyderabad ....
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....ere held to be available to BOT/BOLT contracts by CBDT Circulars, which were any way binding on the IT authorities. In the case of the present case, it is not even claimed by the assessee that the work was carried out under a BOT/BOLT contract, or that it was not a works contract. It is further submitted that the distinction between business of development operation/maintenance and development/ operation/ maintenance was removed with the change in law effective from 1-4-2002, and that this was explained by the decision of the Mumbai High Court in the case of ABG Heavy Industries is fallacious for the following reasons: "The Mumbai High Court decision was rendered in the context of a BOLT contract, which was in any case clarified by the Board Circular to qualify for the deduction under section 80IA. It was noticed by their Lordships that the subsequent changes in the law effective from 1-4-2002 merely mirrored this liberalised outlook. That is not the same thing as saying that a business in the nature of a works contract qualified for the deduction in spite of not operating/maintaining the facility. The decision of the larger Bench in the case of B.T. Patel was not un-ware of the c....
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....ties and perused the material on record. In our opinion, this issue came for consideration before this Tribunal in the case of M/s. Koya & Co. Construction (P) Ltd. v. ACIT, 51 SOT 203 (Hyd) (URO) wherein the Tribunal held as follows: "24. ... We find that the provisions of Section 80IA (4) of the Act when introduced afresh by the Finance Act, 1999, the provisions under section 80IA (4A) of the Act were deleted from the Act. The deduction available for any enterprise earlier under section 80IA (4A) are also made available under Section 80IA (4) itself. Further, the very fact that the legislature mentioned the words (i) "developing" or (ii) "operating and maintaining" or (iii) "developing, operating and maintaining" clearly indicates that any enterprise which carried on any of these three activities would become eligible for deduction. Therefore, there is no ambiguity in the Income-Tax Act. We find that where an assessee incurred expenditure for purchase of materials himself and executes the development work i.e., carries out the civil construction work, he will be eligible for tax benefit under section 80 IA of the Act. In contrast to this, a assessee, who enters into a contract w....
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....nded over the possession of the premises of projects to the assessee for the development of infrastructure facility. It is the assessee's responsibility to do all acts till the possession of property is handed over to the Government. The first phase is to take over the existing premises of the projects and thereafter developing the same into infrastructure facility. Secondly, the assessee shall facilitate the people to use the available existing facility even while the process of development is in progress. Any loss to the public caused in the process would be the responsibility of the assessee. The assessee has to develop the infrastructure facility. In the process, all the works are to be executed by the assessee. It may be laying of a drainage system; may be construction of a project; provision of way for the cattle and bullock carts in the village; provision for traffic without any hindrance, the assessee's duty is to develop infrastructure whether it involves construction of a particular item as agreed to in the agreement or not. The agreement is not for a specific work, it is for development of facility as a whole. The assessee is not entrusted with any specific work to be ....
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....o a contract for development of infrastructure facility is a contractor. Therefore, the contractor and the developer cannot be viewed differently. Every contractor may not be a developer but every developer developing infrastructure facility on behalf of the Government is a contractor. 28. We find that the decision relied on by the learned counsel for the assessee in the case of CIT vs. Laxmi civil Engineering works [supra] squarely applicable to the issue under dispute which is in favour of the assessee wherein it was held that mere development of a infrastructure facility is an eligible activity for claiming deduction under section 80IA of the Act after considering the Judgement of the Mumbai High Court in the case of ABG Heavy Engineering [supra]. The case of ABG is not the pure developer whereas, in the present case, the assessee is the pure developer. We also find that Section 80IA of the Act, intended to cover the entities carrying out developing, operating and maintaining the infrastructure facility keeping in mind the present business models and intend to grant the incentives to such entities. The CBDT, on several occasions, clarified that pure developer should also be el....
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.... pump sets. Supply and fitting of submersible pumps, centrifugal pumps, turbine pumps, submersible motors, motors for turbines and centrifugal pump sets, transformer, generator, panel boards etc. iv) Design and construction of raw water pumping stations, water treatment plant, treated water pumping station, treated water transmission main, construction of surge tank and pipe connection arrangement, booster stations, internal transmission main and feeder mains, construction of service reservoirs and master reservoirs. v) Mobilisation of labourers, [preparation of plans technical expertise, supervision, co-ordination and control, set up manufacturing facility nearby the project site to manufacture project specific pipes as per the required specifications which requires well equipped machines, employment of skilled labour and technical experts, equipment to transport heavy pipes to laying sites, equipment to lift and lowering of pipes at the excavated sites, provide qualified and experience engineer for each project site etc to bring in to existence an infrastructure facility. Manufacturing of pipes to sites, excavation under various conditions of soil and rock, lowering and laying....
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.... contractors, who undertake only business risk. Without any doubt, the assessee clearly demonstrated that the plant and machinery, technical know-how, expertise and financial resources. Therefore, if the contracts involve design, development, operation & maintenance, financial involvement and defect correction and liability period, then such contracts cannot be called as simple works contract, to deny the deduction under section 80IA. The contracts which contain above features to be segregated have to be granted deduction under section 80IA and the other agreements which are pure works contracts hit by the Explanation to section 80IA(13) are not entitled for deduction under section 80IA. The profit from the contracts which involve design, development, operating & maintenance, financial involvement and defect correction and liability period is to be computed by the Assessing Officer on pro rata basis of turnover. The Assessing Officer is directed to examine the records, accordingly, and grant deduction on eligible turnover. 24. In the case of KMC Construction Ltd. v. ACIT, 51 SOT 214 (Hyd) (URO) wherein the Tribunal has taken the same view. 25. In the case of Sushee Hi-Tech Constr....