TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (1) TMI 331
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....d on the facts of the case in confirming the action of ld. DCIT, TDS, CPC, Ghaziabad while passing the orders without properly appreciating the fact and that she further erred in grossly ignoring various submissions, explanations and information submitted by the appellant from time to time which ought to have been considered before passing the impugned order. This action of both the authorities is in clear breach of law and principles of natural justice and therefore deserves to be quashed." 2. There is no dispute that the issue in appeal is covered, in favour of the assessee, by a series of decisions of the Tribunal, including lead order in the case of Sibia Healthcare Private Limited Vs. DCIT, [2015] 46 ITR (Trib) 453], wherein it is held that prior to 1st June 2015, the levy of late filing fees under section 234E could not have been effected in the course of intimation under Section 200A of the Act. Learned CIT(A) has duly noted this fact, but then she has gone on an elaborate analysis of the legal position and has come to a different conclusion. Learned CIT(A) has held that the amendment to section 200A with effect from 1st June 2015 is retrospective in effect. She has t....
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....serted by the Finance Act 2012 and was brought into effect from 1st July 2012. This statutory provision is as follows: 234E. Fee for defaults in furnishing statements (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Act, where a person fails to deliver or cause to be delivered a statement within the time prescribed in sub-section (3) of section 200 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 206C, he shall be liable to pay, by way of fee, a sum of two hundred rupees for every day during which the failure continues. (2) The amount of fee referred to in sub-section (1) shall not exceed the amount of tax deductible or collectible, as the case may be. (3) The amount of fee referred to in sub-section (1) shall be paid before delivering or causing to be delivered a statement in accordance with sub- section (3) of section 200 or the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 206C. (4) The provisions of this section shall apply to a statement referred to in sub- section (3) of section 200 or the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 206C which is to be delivered or caused to be delivered for tax deducted at source or tax collected at source, as the case may be, on or after the 1st day of ....
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....015, there is an amendment inSection 200A and this amendment, as stated in the Finance Act 2015, is as follows: In section 200A of the Income-tax Act, in sub-section (1), for clauses (c) to (e), the following clauses shall be substituted with effect from the 1st day of June, 2015, namely:-- "(c) the fee, if any, shall be computed in accordance with the provisions of section 234E; (d) the sum payable by, or the amount of refund due to, the deductor shall be determined after adjustment of the amount computed under clause (b) and clause (c) against any amount paid under section 200 or section 201 or section 234E and any amount paid otherwise by way of tax or interest or fee; (e) an intimation shall be prepared or generated and sent to the deductor specifying the sum determined to be payable by, or the amount of refund due to, him under clause (d); and (f) the amount of refund due to the deductor in pursuance of the determination under clause (d) shall be granted to the deductor. 8. In effect thus, post 1st June 2015, in the course of processing of a TDS statement and issuance of intimation under section 200A in respect thereof, an adjustment could also be made in respect....
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....4, such a levy could only have been made at best within 31st March 2015. That time has already elapsed and the defect is thus not curable even at this stage. In view of these discussions, as also bearing in mind entirety of the case, the impugned levy of fees under section 234 E is unsustainable in law. We, therefore, uphold the grievance of the assessee and delete the impugned levy of fee under section 234E of the Act. The assessee gets the relief accordingly." 5. We find that, rather than respectfully following the binding judicial precedent, the CIT(A) has embarked upon a detailed analysis to write antithesis of the binding judicial precedent. These heroics are completely out of place; once a higher tier of the judicial hierarchy expressed the views on a particular subject and unless the views so expressed are specifically reversed or overruled by an even higher judicial forum, the lower tier of the judicial hierarchy must follow the same. Learned CIT(A)'s action in seeking to distinguish the binding judicial precedent, on the basis of what she perceives as "proper analysis of legal position", is an act of judicial indiscipline. We cannot approve and endorse the same. As laid d....
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.... and therefore, it is retrospective in effect. In coming to this conclusion, she has been guided by the decision in the case of Rajeev Kumar Agarwal Vs. Addl. CIT, [(2014) 34 ITR (Trib) 479], which is now approved by Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of CIT vs. Ansal Land Mark Township (P) Ltd, (2015) 377 ITR 635 (Del), wherein insertion of second proviso to section 40(a)(ia) was held to be retrospective in effect but what she missed out in the process was that it is only elementary that when a legislation confers a benefit on the taxpayer by relaxing the rigour of pre-amendment law, and when such a benefit appears to have been the objective pursued by the legislature, it would a purposive interpretation giving it a retrospective effect but when a tax legislation imposes a liability or a burden, the effect of such a legislative provision can only be prospective. In Hon'ble Supreme Court's five-Judge Constitution Bench's landmark judgment, in the case of CIT vs. Vatika Townships (P) Ltd. (2014) 271 CTR (SC) 1 : (2014) 109 DTR (SC) 33 : 2014 TIOL 78 SC, the legal position in this regard has been very succinctly summed up by observing that "if a legislation confers a benefit on som....