TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (4) TMI 684
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....tion 80IA of the Act? 2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was right in law in allowing the deduction under Section 80IA of the Act, without considering the Explanation 13 to Section 80IA introduced by the Finance Act, 2007 with retrospective effect from 1.4.2000, no deduction under Section 80IA, is allowable to a Sub-Contractor?" 2. Section 80IA of the Act is quoted below for ready reference: "S.80-IA. Deductions in respect of profits and gains from industrial undertakings or enterprises engaged in infrastructure development, etc. (1) Where the gross total income of an assessee includes any profits and gains derived by an undertaking or an enterprise from any business referred to in sub-section (4) (such business being hereinafter referred to as the eligible business), there shall, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this section, be allowed, in computing the total income of the assessee, a deduction of an amount equal to hundred per cent of profits and gains derived from such business for ten consecutive assessment years. (2) The deduction specified in sub-section (1....
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....st Proviso to Section 80IA(4) of the Act. 5. The relevant findings of the learned Tribunal in this regard are quoted below for ready reference: "8. On a careful consideration of the rival submissions advanced by the parties and from a careful perusal of the orders of the authorities below and the documents placed on record including the precedents relied upon, we find that the Department had rejected the assessee's claim for relief u/s 80IA on the ground that the assessee has not satisfied the requirement of subsec.( 4) to sec.80IA. According to the authorities below the assessee had not entered into an agreement with the Central or State Government, local authority or any statutory body for developing or operating and maintaining or developing, operating and maintaining a new infrastructure facility. For rejecting the assessee's claim another reason adopted by the Department is that operation and maintenance of the Lignite Transport System is not an infrastructure facility eligible for relief u/s 80IA and further that the assessee had only an agreement with ST-CMS and therefore it is not entitled to sec. 80IA relief. However, while going through the or....
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....A(4) does not require that there should be a direct agreement between the transferee enterprise and the specified authority, the assessee-company engaged in operation and maintenance of port infrastructure which was transferred by the developer to the assess in accordance with the agreement with the specified authorities was eligible for deduction under sec.80-IA." Under the above circumstances, we set aside the orders of the authorities below and direct the AO to allow the claim of the assessee for deduction under sec.80IA of the Act. ... ..... 9. In the result, appeal of the Revenue stands dismissed." 6. We have heard the learned counsel for the Revenue and the Assessee. 7. The provisions of Section 80IA(4) of the Act, including its Provisos and Explanations to the extent relevant are also quoted below for ready reference: "(4) This section applies to - (i) any enterprise carrying on the business of (i) developing or (ii) operating and maintaining or (iii) developing, operating and maintaining any infrastructure facility which fulfils all the following conditions, namely: (a) it is owned by a company registered in India ....
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....(i) developing or; (ii) operating and maintaining or; (iii) developing, operating and maintaining any infrastructure facility. The term "infrastructure facility" has been defined in the Explanation and the same includes a toll road, a bridge or a rail system, a highway project, etc. These are, obviously, big infrastructure facilities for which the enterprise in question should enter into a contract with the Central Government or State Government or Local Authority. However, the Proviso intends to extend the benefit of the said deduction under Section 80IA of the Act even to a transferee or a contractor who is approved and recognised by the concerned authority and undertakes the work of the said development of infrastructure facility or only operating or maintaining the same. The Proviso to sub-section (4) stipulates that subject to the fulfillment of conditions, the transferee will be entitled to the said benefit, as if the transfer in question had not taken place. It has been found by the Assessing Authority himself, in the present case, that the present Assessee M/s.Chettinad Lignite Transport Services Private Limited under an Agreement dated 16.04.2002, captioned as Lignite Tran....