TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (10) TMI 1121
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....ecting the eligibility of the Appellant for deduction u/s. 80(P) of The Income Tax Act 1961. 2. The grounds relied on by the Income Tax officer for denying the Appellants eligibility for deduction U/s. 80(P) of The Income Tax Act is not well based. 3. The Appellant being a duly registered Co- Operative Society u/s 7(1) of The Kerala Co- Operative Societies Act 1969 is a Co-Operative Society as defined U/s.2(19) of the Income Tax Act 1961. 4. The appellant Society is evidently a primary Cooperative, Agricultural & Rural Development Bank as defined U/s.80(P)(4) of The Income Tax Act, providing credit facilities to its members for Agricultural And allied Rural Development activities in Kottayam, Changanacherry and Va....
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.... iii) K.G. Rukminiamma 331 ITR 211 (Kar), Though the decision is with reference to section- 54 the issue considered is squarely applicable in the Assessee's case. 9. The CIT (Appeals) has not properly understood the argument notes, submitted at the time of hearing and also the explanations given there in, regarding the case laws, relied on by the Assessing Officer, as misplaced relating to the amended clause 80P (4) and the Impact of article" a" used therein." 4. Brief facts of the case are as follows:- The assessee is a Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969. For the assessment year 2011-2012, the return of income was filed on 28.09.2011 d....
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....007, does not take away the applicability of the section to Agricultural and Rural Development Banks having its area of operation in more than one Taluk. While the amendment also defines Primary Co-operative Agricultural & Rural Development Banks as a society having its area of operation confined to "A" Taluk. The usage of the article "a" before the word Taluk is not to be understood to indicate a single Taluk. He further submitted that the reliance placed by the Assessing Officer in the case of West Bengal Warehousing Corporation v. Indrapuri Studio Pvt. Ltd. is clearly misplaced. In that case the Hon'ble Apex Court was only concerned with the scope of definition clause, which uses the expression "means" instead of "includes" and the Hon'b....
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....he Hon'ble High Court of Kerala in the case of The Chirackkal Service Co-operative Bank Ltd. holding that the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies registered as such under the KAC Act and classified so under that Act are entitled to exemption u/s 80P of the I.T.Act. The learned Counsel, therefore, prayed that the usage of article "a" before the word taluk is not to be understood to indicate a single taluk by the Assessing Officer and deny the benefit of Sec.80P(4)(a), (b) in the case of the assessee and the deduction granted u/s 80 P(2)(a) of the I.T.Act . 7. The Departmental Representative, on the other hand, relied on orders of the Income-tax authorities. 8. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the material on record....
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.... the word 'Taluk' is not 'to be understood to indicate a single Taluk. The Ld. Sr. Counsel relying on section 13(2) of the General Clauses Act contended that words in the singular shall include the plural, and vice versa. The Ld. Sr. Counsel relied on certain judicial pronouncements interpreting Article 'A' in the context of deduction u/s. 54 and 54F of the I.T. Act. 6.3 The Finance Act, 2006 has defined the expression "Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank" by inserting Explanation to section 80P(4) which reads as under: "(b) "primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank" means a society having its area of operation confined to a taluk and the principal object of which is to provide f....
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....ained in the Explanation (b) to sub-section (4) of Section 80P should be understood as 'limited to' or 'within bounds' of a taluk. The first letter of the English alphabet which precedes the word 'Taluk' is used "before nouns and noun phrases that denote a single, but unspecified, person or thing.......". [Webster's Dictionary] 'A' is used to mean or denote 'one'. A Taluk is a revenue division. Few villages constitute a taluk and few taluks constitute a District. 6.6 The mischief of sub-section (4) will not fall on a primary cooperative agricultural and rural development bank provided it's operation is limited to a taluk and the principal object of which is to provide for long term credit for agricultural and rural development acti....