TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (11) TMI 438
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....t that the pre-amended provisions of the section 115JB(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 applies to all the companies irrespective of the applicability of the provisions of the section 211(2) of the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 to them as the amendment is only applicable from the Assessment Year 2013-14 onwards. 3. For these and such other grounds that may be urged at the time of hearing, it is humbly prayed that the order of the Ld. CIT (A) be reversed and that of the Assessing Officer be restored. 4. The appellant craves leave to add, to alter, to amend or delete any of the grounds that may be urged at the time of hearing of appeal. 3. Briefly, the facts of the case are as under: The appellant is a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act 1956. It is engaged in the business of generation and sale of power. The appellant filed the return of income. The assessment was completed under sections 115JB of the Income Tax Act. The assessee company denies its liability for the assessment of book profit under section 115JB on the ground that the accounts are required to be prepared in accordance with the provisions of Electricity Act. The CIT(A) allowed relief....
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.... 4. (2) Every assessee,-- 5. (a) being a company, other than a company referred to in clause 6. (b), shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of Part II of Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956); or 7. (b) being a company, to which the proviso to subsection (2) of section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) is applicable, shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of the Act governing such company:" 16. By virtue of this amendment, the Legislature has brought those companies to which proviso to sub-section (2) of section 211 of the Companies Act applies within the network of provisions of section 115JB of the Act. As per the provisions of section 211(1), every balance sheet of a company shall be prepared in accordance with Part I & II of Schedule VI of the Companies Act, but as per proviso to sub-section (1), insurance or banking company or any company engaged in the generation or supply of electricity or to any other class of company for which a form of ba....
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....anted either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as may be specified in the notification." 17. Undisputedly, the assessee is engaged in the generation of power, therefore as per proviso to section 211(1), the assessee was not required to prepare its balance sheet and profit & loss account in the form set out in Part-I & III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act, as the assessee was required to prepare its balance sheet and profit & loss account as per the Act notified by the Government. Now the question arises under such circumstances, whether the provisions of section 115JB would apply to the assessee's case, where he was not required to prepare the balance sheet and profit & loss account as per Part I & III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act. This aspect was examined by this Tribunal in the case of Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. v. ACIT, ITA No.711/Bang/2011 in which it was held that the assessee is engaged in the generation of power and in an electric company, it is governed by and bound to follow the relevant Electricity Act and Rules thereto in preparation of its financial statements. Therefore, the provisions of section 115JB of the Act are not applicable to....
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.... company engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, or to any other class of company for which the form of profit and loss account has been specified in or under the Act governing such class of company" 11.2.2. As contended by the learned Authorised Representative the newly inserted Explanation - 3 to section 115JB of the Act is clear that the assessee is given an option to prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year either in accordance with the provisions of Parts II and III of Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956, OR in accordance with the provisions of the Act governing such company, w.e.f. 1.4.2013. Since there is no dispute that the assessee is engaged in the generation of power and in an electricity company, it is governed by and bound to follow the relevant Electricity Act and Rules thereto in preparation of its financial statements. In this view of the matter and taking into consideration the judicial decisions cited and relied upon by the assessee, we are of the considered view that the provisions of section 115JB of the Act are not applicable to the assessee which is an electric company in the business of generation of power. In this ....
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....rate surcharge will be temporary. The other is the phenomenon of zero tax companies which, according to many observers, reflects an excessive degree of laxity in the tax regime. I propose to respond to the two issues as follows: (i) I am reducing the rate of surcharge on corporation tax from 15% to 7.5% and hope to take a similar step in my next budget. The reduced tax burden will benefit all companies big and small. (ii) I propose to introduce a "Minimum Alternate Tax" (MAT) on companies. In a case where the total income of the company, as computed under the Income Tax Act after availing of all eligible deductions, is less than 30 per cent of the book profit, the total income of such a company shall be deemed to be 30 per cent of the book profit and shall be charged to tax accordingly. The effective rate works out to 12 per cent of book profit calculated under the Companies Act. Companies engaged in the power and infrastructure sector will, however, be exempted from the levy of MAT." 22.15 On the basis of the aforesaid, it would be noted that Legislature intended to exclude from the purview of MAT provisions under section 115JA of the Act (which were para-materia to secti....
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....rovisions of section 115JB(2) with effect from April 1, 2013, meaning thereby that the deeming provisions are applicable to companies governed by special Acts only from assessment year 2013- 14 and onwards. 22.23 Memorandum explaining the provisions of the Finance Bill, 2012: 342 ITR (St.) 288, whereby subsection (2) of section 115JB was substituted provides that the amendment is applicable w.e.f. 01.04.2013, that is for assessment years 2013-14 onwards. Relevant extract of the Memorandum is reproduced as under: "Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) I. Under the existing provisions of section 115JB of the Act, a company is liable to pay MAT of eighteen and one half per cent of its book profit in case tax on its total income computed under the provisions of the Act is less than the MAT liability. Book profit for this purpose is computed by making certain adjustments to the profit disclosed in the profit and loss account prepared by the company in accordance with the Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956. As per section 115JB, every company is required to prepare its accounts as per Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956. However, as per the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956, ce....
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....ear from the aforesaid amendment that prior to the amendment applicable from assessment year 2013-14, provisions of section 115JB of the Act were not at all applicable to an electricity company, such as the appellant up to the assessment year 2012-13. 22.26 Further, Explanation 3 to section 115JB of the Act, which provides an option to discoms to prepare accounts as per Schedule VI of the Companies Act or the governing law/special Act in respect of assessment years prior to 2013-14, has also been inserted as part of the substantive amendments applicable from assessment year 2013-14 and onwards. The said Explanation, cannot be given such retrospective effect resulting in imposition of fresh levy for assessment years up to AY 2012-13, which was not in accordance with the language of section 115JB of the Act, as it then stood and the legislative intent. The amendments to section 115JB of the Act made by the Finance Act, 2012 are, it was submitted, substantive in nature resulting in fresh liability to tax and would therefore, apply only prospectively; the same cannot, unless specifically mandated by the statute, be applied from retrospective effect. 22.27 Reliance in this regard ....
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....ay tax, otherwise not payable, on artificial income. The said section should, therefore, be construed and interpreted strictly, viz, in a manner that leaves the assessee with a lower burden of having to bear an artificial tax liability contended the Learned AR. 22.33 It is a well-known principle of interpretation of fiscal statutes that in the event of any doubt in regard to interpretation, particularly in cases of taxation by employing legal fiction, the benefit of doubt, if any, should be given to the assessee and the interpretation beneficial to the taxpayer should be accepted. Reference was made to the following cases: - CIT v. Vegetable Products Ltd.: [TS-6-SC-1973-O] - CIT vs. J.K.Hosiery Factory : [TS-5013-SC-1986-O] - ACIT v. Thanthi Trust: 247 ITR 785 [TS-5005-SC- 2001-O] - UOI v. Onkar Kanwar : [TS-5021-SC-2002-O] - CIT v. A. J. Abraham Anthraper : [TS-5230-HC- 2004(Kerala)-O] - Vijay Omprakash Bansal v. CIT : [TS-6051-HC- 2001(Bombay)-O] - CIT v. L.G Balakrishnan: [TS-5374-HC- 2001(Madras)-O] - CIT v. Quantas Airlines Ltd.: [TS-5297-HC- 2002(Delhi)-O] - Southern Roadways Ltd. vs. CWT: [TS-5676-HC- 2000(Madras)-O] 22.34 Having regard to th....
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....te of Electricity Act, 2003 in respect of electricity company vis-à-vis other Acts, is specifically provided in sec. 174 of the Electricity Act, 2003. 24.1 For a ready reference, the provisions laid down under sec. 174 of the Electricity Act, 2003 are reproduced hereunder: S.174 "Save as otherwise provided in section 173, the provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act." 24.2 Perusal of the above provisions make it clear that these provisions shall override the provisions of all other Acts. The Learned AR has also referred the provisions laid down under sec. 616 of the Companies Act, 1956 to support his contention that even the Companies Act, 1956 and the Companies Act, 2013 (Section 1(4)) also provided/provides that the provisions of the said Act would apply in respect of an Electricity Company only in so far as the said provisions are not inconsistent with the Electricity Act. For a ready reference, the aforesaid provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and the Companies Act, 2013 are being reprod....
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....s the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf, subject to such exceptions, modifications or adaptation, as may be specified in the notification...." 24.3 On perusal of the above provisions of the Companies Act, we find substance in the contention of the Learned AR that the provisions of the Act would apply in respect of an Electricity Company only in so far as the said provisions are not inconsistent with the Electricity Act. 24.4 The Learned AR has also referred the provisions laid down under sec. 181 of the Electricity Act with this submission that the said provisions provide power to the State Commission to make regulation. For a ready reference, relevant extracts of section 180 of the Electricity Act, 2003 is being reproduced hereunder: "180. Powers of State Commissions to make regulations. (1) The State Commissions may, by notification, make regulations consistent with this Act and the rules generally to carry out the provisions of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the power contained in sub-section (1), such regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: (a) period to be s....
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....as computed under this Act in respect of any previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2001, is less than seven and one-half per cent of its book profit, such book profit shall be deemed to be the total income of the assessee and the tax payable by the assessee on such total income shall be the amount of income-tax at the rate of seven and one-half per cent. (2) Every assessee, being a company, shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of Parts II and III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) ....................". 24.7 On the reading of above provisions laid down under sec. 115JB of the Act relevant for the year, we find that the provisions are applied during the relevant year only to the companies required under the law, to prepare its profit and loss account in accordance with Parts-II and III of Schedule-VI of the Companies Act and not otherwise. 24.8 The Learned AR in his submission has also reproduced hereinabove the speech of Hon'ble Finance Minister while reintroducing the MAT provisions vide Financ....
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....ayable by the assessee on such total income shall be the amount of income-tax at the rate of eighteen and one-half per cent. (2) Every assessee,- (a) being a company, other than a company referred to in clause (b), shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of Part II of Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956); or (b) being a company, to which the proviso to subsection (2) of section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) is applicable, shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of the Act governing such company." 24.7 Simultaneously, Explanation 3 to aforesaid subsection (2) of section 115JB of the Act was inserted by Finance Act, 2012 w.e.f. 01.04.2013 which reads as under: "Explanation 3.-For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that for the purposes of this section, the assessee, being a company to which the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 211 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) is applicable, has, for an assessment year commencing on o....
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....ffect. The relevant excerpts of the observations of the Hon'ble Supreme Court are being reproduced hereunder: "General Principles concerning retrospectivity ................................... .................................... 31. Of the various rules guiding how a legislation has to be interpreted, one established rule is that unless a contrary intention appears, a legislation is presumed not to be intended to have a retrospective operation. The idea behind the rule is that a current law should govern current activities. Law passed today cannot apply to the events of the past. If we do something today, we do it keeping in view the law of today and in force and not tomorrow's backward adjustment of it. Our belief in the nature of the law is founded on the bed rock that every human being is entitled to arrange his affairs by relying on the existing law and should not find that his plans have been retrospectively upset. This principle of law is known as lexprospicit non respicit: law looks forward not backward. As was observed in Phillips vs. Eyre (1870) LR 6 QB 1, a retrospective legislation is contrary to the general principle that legislation by which the conduct ....
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....r passing a declaratory Act is to set aside what Parliament deems to have been a judicial error, whether in the statement of the common law or in the interpretation of statutes. Usually, if not invariably, such an Act contains a preamble, and also the word 'declared' as well as the word 'enacted'. But the use of the words 'it is declared' is not conclusive that the Act is declaratory for these words may, at times, be used to introduced new rules of law and the Act in the latter case will only be amending the law and will not necessarily be retrospective. In determining, therefore, the nature of the Act, regard must be had to the substance rather than to the form. If a new Act is 'to explain' an earlier Act, it would be without object unless construed retrospective. An explanatory Act is generally passed to supply an obvious omission or to clear up doubts as to the meaning of the previous Act. It is well settled that if a statute is curative or merely declaratory of the previous law retrospective operation is generally intended. The language 'shall be deemed always to have meant' is declaratory, and is in plain terms retrospective. In the abse....
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....ation or impose a new liability otherwise than as regards matters of procedure. The general rule as stated by Halsbury in Vol. 36 of the Laws of England (3rd Edn.) and reiterated in several decisions of this Court as well as English courts is that all statutes other than those which are merely declaratory or which relate only to matters of procedure or of evidence are prima facie prospectively and retrospective operation should not be given to a statute so as to affect, alter or destroy an existing right or create a new liability or obligation unless that effect cannot be avoided without doing violence to the language of the enactment. If the enactment is expressed in language which is fairly capable of either interpretation, it ought to be constued as prospective only." 37. In the case of C.I.T., Bombay v. Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. (1962) 1 SCR 788, this Court held that as the liability to pay tax is computed according to the law in force at the beginning of the assessment year, i.e., the first day of April, any change in law affecting tax liability after that date though made during the currency of the assessment year, unless specifically made retrospective, does not a....
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....ourt in its decision dated 16.9.2014 in the case of CIT v. Vatika Township (P.) Ltd. In Civil Appeals arising out of SLP(C) No. 1362 of 2009 and others. The five judges Bench of the Supreme Court strikes down division Bench ruling on retrospective applicability of proviso to section 113 of the Income Tax Act holding the proviso to operate prospectively. Laying down perusal principles governing retrospectivity, the Supreme Court has been pleased to rule that unless contrary intention appears, a legislation is presumed not to be intended to have retrospective operation, current law ought to govern current activities, law passed today cannot apply to past events." 24.8 The Mumbai Bench of the ITAT in the case of Reliance Instruments Ltd. vs. ACIT &Ors. (supra) has also expressed similar view. Relevant para Nos. 38 and 39 are being reproduced hereunder: "38. Having heard the rival submissions and after perusing the relevant material on record we find that the Tribunal in assessee's own case in assessment year 2001- 02 in para 29 has held as under: "As discussed above, the assessee is following the accounting policies wider the Electricity Supply Act and prepared its accoun....
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....are its books of account in terms of the provisions of Banking Regulation Act. It is thus, contended that the provisions of sec. 115JB do not apply in the case of banking companies which are not required to prepare the profit and loss account as per the requirements of Part II and III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act. Since the provisions of sec. 115JB do not apply to the assessee company, the reasons recorded for reopening the assessment are clearly wrong and insufficient. We are urged to quash the reassessment proceedings on this short ground. 6. Learned Departmental Representative, on the other hand, vehemently relies upon the orders of the authorities below and submits that there is no specific exclusion clause for the banking companies, and in the absence of such a clause, it is not open to us to infer the same. The submission of the learned counsel, according to the departmental representative, are clearly contrary to the legislative intent and plain wording of the statute. 7. The plea of the assessee is indeed well taken, and it meets our approval. The provisions of sec. 115JB can only come into play when the assessee is required to prepare its profit and loss accou....
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....levant previous year shall be deemed to be an amount equal to thirty per cent of such book profit. (1A) Every assessee, being a company, shall, for the purposes of this section, prepare its profit and loss account for the relevant previous year in accordance with the provisions of Parts II and III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, "book profit" means the net profit as shown in the profit and loss account for the relevant previous year prepared under sub-section (1A), as increased by - if any amount referred to in clauses (a ) to (f) is debited or, as the case may be, the amount referred to in clauses (g) and (h) is not credited to the profit and loss account, and as reduced by,-" It can be seen from clause (1) that the provision creates a legal fiction regarding the total income chargeable to tax. Such a fiction is applicable only to those assessees which - (a) are Companies except the Companies engaged in the business of either generation or distribution of electricity, (b) that such a fiction is made applicable to the Companies only with reference to the previous year relevant to the assessment year comme....
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....r calculation or depreciation shall correspond to the method and rates which have been adopted for calculating the depreciation for such financial year or part of such financial year falling within the relevant previous year." The further details of section 115JA may not be necessary for the present purpose. 13. Then came to section 115JB, which was inserted in the Income-tax Act by Finance Act of 2000 with effect from 1-4-2001. The relevant portion as it stands today reads as follows:- "115JB. Special provision for payment of tax by certain companies.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, where in the case of an assessee, being a company, the incometax, payable on the total income as computed under this Act in respect of any previous year relevant to the assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2007 is less than ten per cent of its book profit, such book profit shall be deemed to be the total income of the assessee and the tax payable by the assessee on such total income shall be the amount of income-tax at the rate of ten per cent. (2) Every assessee, being a company shall for the purposes of this section, prep....
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....t. Further, sections 115JA and 115JB also stipulate a definite manner of preparing the annual accounts including the profit and loss accounts. More specifically, Section 115JB stipulates that the accounting policies, accounting standards, etc. shall be uniform both for the purpose of Income-tax as well as for the information statutorily required to be placed, before the annual general meeting conducted, in accordance with section 210 of the Companies Act, 1956. 14. It may be mentioned here that under section 166 of the Companies Act every Company is mandated to hold a general meeting in each year. Section 210 mandates that every year the Board of Directors of the Company in the general meeting shall lay before the Company a balance sheet as at the end of the relevant period and also a profit and loss account for the period. Parts II and III of Schedule VI to the Companies Act specify the method and manner of maintaining the profit and loss account. 15. However, the appellant though is by definition a Company under the Income-tax Act and deemed to be a Company for the purpose of Income-tax Act, (by virtue of the declaration under section 80 of the Electricity Supply Act) it is....
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....xpression "book profit" for the purpose of the said section is explained in the section itself to mean the net profit as increased or decreased by the various amounts shown in the various sub-clauses of the Section. The "net profit" itself must be the net profit as shown in the profit and loss account of the Company. Sub-section (2) mandates that the profit and loss account of the Company is required to be prepared in the manner specified therein. Though in view of the requirement under section 69 of the Electricity Supply Act the appellant is required to maintain accounts in a different form than the one contemplated under section 115JB(2), the prescription under section 69 is only regarding the general duty of the appellant for the purpose of Electricity Supply Act. Nothing in theory prevents the Parliament from obligating the appellant to prepare another profit and loss account as prescribed under section 115JB(2) for the purpose of the Income-tax Act. The question is whether such an obligation is created under section 115JB(2) insofar as the appellant is concerned. In examining the said question, the legislative history and the mischief sought to be cured by the Legislature in ....
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....come as computed under the normal provisions of the Income-tax Act, is more than 30 per cent of the book profit, tax shall be charged on the same. 46.3 The effective minimum alternate tax, at the existing rates of taxation works out to 12 per cent of the book profits. 46.4 Income arising from free trade zone (FTZ), export oriented undertakings (EOUs), charitable activities, investment by a venture capital company and other exempted incomes (section 10) are excluded from the purview of the alternate tax. 46.5 Since the alternate tax is applicable only where the normal total income computed is less than 30 per cent of the book profits, so long as the enterprises (other than FTZ units and EOUs) earning income from export profits do not have their component of export income higher than 70 per cent of the book profits, the provisions of section 115JA will not be attracted. In other words, the MAT will apply only to such cases where export profits forming part of book profits of an assessee exceed 7 per cent of the total profits. 46.6 Companies engaged in the business of generation and distribution of power and those enterprises engaged in developing, maintaining and operatin....
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....on. 19. This aspect was also examined by the Hon'ble Kerala High Court in the case of Kerala State Electricity Board (supra) and has concluded that provisions of section 115JB cannot be invoked in the case of State Electricity Board as it was governed by different law. The relevant observations of this Hon'ble Court is also extracted hereunder for the sake of reference:- "Section 115JB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 creates a legal fiction regarding the total income chargeable to tax. Such a fiction is applicable only to those assessees which are companies.The book profit of the company is deemed to be the total income of the assessee in the circumstances specified in the section. The expression "book profit" for the purpose of the section is explained to mean the net profit as increased or decreased by the various amounts shown in the various sub-clauses of the section. The "net profit" itself must be the net profit as shown in the profit and loss account of the company. Sub-section (2) mandates that the profit and loss account of the company is required to be prepared in the manner specified therein. Section 115JB stipulates that the accounting policies, accounting sta....
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....ot have a different purpose and need not be interpreted in a manner different from the understanding of the CBDT of section 115JA. Where the computation provision could not be applied in a particular case, it is indicative of the fact that the charging section also would not apply. The Electricity Board or bodies similar to it, which are totally owned by the Government, either State or Central, have no shareholders. Profit, if at all, made would be for the benefit of entire body politic of the State. Therefore the enquiry as to the mischief sought to be remedied by the amendment becomes irrelevant. Therefore, the fiction fixed under section 115JB cannot be pressed into service against the Electricity Board while making the assessment of the tax payable under the Income-tax Act. Section 43B(a) deals with "any sum payable by the assessee by way of tax, duty, . . . under any law for the time being in force". The words, "by way of tax" are indicative of the nature of liability. The liability to pay and the corresponding authority of the State to collect the tax (flowing from a statute) is essentially in the realm of the rights of the sovereign, whereas the obligation of the ag....
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.... the difference in the language employed in the sections, we find that whereas u/ss.l15J and 115JA, the comparison is between the total income of the assessee computed under the normal provisions of the Act and 30% of the book profit, in section 115JB the comparison is between the tax payable on the total income computed under the normal provisions of the Act and 7.5% of the book profit. Since sections 115J and 115JA refer to the total income computed under the normal provisions of the Act, they employ the words "chargeable to tax". However, it is seen that section 1I5JB makes a comparison between the figure of tax _ payable on the total income computed under the normal provisions of the Act and the tax of 7.5% of the book profit. Therefore, necessarily section 115JB has to use the expression "tax payable by the assessee on such total income". In sections I15J and I15JA, the comparison is between the figure of total income computed under the normal provisions of the Act and 30% Of the book profit and, therefore, these sections have necessarily to use the expression "total income of such assessee chargeable to tax". Nothing really turns on the language employed in these sections sin....
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....otal income and since there would be nothng with which the book profit tax can be compared, section 115.TB cannot be applied. It was submitted that it was a case of one ingredient of the charging section being incapable of ascertainment with the consequent result that the entire section becomes inapplicable. This argument is, perhaps, inspired by the judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of CIT v. B. C. Srinivasa Setty (1981) 128 ITR 294, though there was no express reference to the said decision. In this case it was held that the charging section and the computation provisions together constitute an integrated code and when there is a case to which the computation provisions cannot apply at all, it is evident that such a case was not intended to fall within the charging section. These observations were made by the Supreme Court in relation to the assessment under the head "capital gains". It was held that where the cost of an asset, which was deductible from the sale price for ascertaining the capital gains, was incapable of ascertainment any reason, it can be said that the sale of such an asset was not intended at all to be assessed to capital gains. In that case, the assess....
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....the circular which throw light on -the object of introducing the section are reproduced below: "New provisions to levy minimum tax on 'book profit' of certain companies. 36.1 It is an accepted canon of taxation of levy tax on the basis of ability to pay. However, as a result of various tax concessions and incentives certain companies making huge profits and also declaring substantial dividends, have been managing their affairs in such a way as to avoid payment of income- tax. 36.2 Accordingly, as a measure of equity, section 115J has been introduced by the Finance Act." It will be appreciated from the above that the section was introduced as an equitable measure in order to levy tax on companies which made huge profits and declared substantial dividends but did not pay income-tax because of the various tax concessions and incentives availed of by them. It was thought that such companies had the ability to pay taxes and they ought to contribute to the exchequer. The interpretation of section 115JB which is similar to section 115J and which we have adopted, is in consonance with the object of the section namely, that all companies which make handsome profits must- pay tax irr....