2023 (12) TMI 454

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....961 (in short 'Act') dated 29.10.2021 for the Assessment Year (A.Y.) 2019-20. 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an individual, having income from salary, house property and other sources, filed the return of income for the A.Y.2019-20, declaring an income of Rs. 7,47,129/- after claiming a sum of Rs. 9,22,260/- as exempt from income tax u/s 10(10AA) of the Act. The assessee has joined as a Technician in the Department of Telecom in the year 1981 under the Central Government and retired from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., a public sector undertaking. The assessee submitted that the Govt. of India had corporatized the Department of Telecom to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. ("BSNL" in short) w.e.f. 01.10.2000. During the conversion....

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....assessee filed a rectification petition u/s 154 before the CPC to rectify the error and compute the exemption at Rs. 9,22,260/- which was rejected. 3. Aggrieved, the assessee preferred an appeal before the CIT(A) and the Ld.CIT(A) held that the assessee is other than central and state government employee and as such he is entitled for claim of exemption under section 10(10AA)(ii) to the extent of Rs. 3,00,000/- only in terms of notification No.123/2002/F.No.200/23/98-ITA-I dated 31.05.2002 which is presently in force. Hence, Ld.CIT(A) held that the CPC was right in restricting the exemption claim of the assessee in respect of leave salary encashment as per rules relevant to section 10(10AA(ii)). The Ld.CIT(A) relied on the judicial prono....

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....he time of the hearing, it is prayed that the order of the CIT(A) restricting the exemption and taxing the balance may please be quashed and grant relief to the appellant. 5. All the grounds of appeal are related to denial of exemption claimed u/s 10(10AA). The Ld.AR submitted that the assessee joined Department of Telecom in year 1981 and the corporatization of the Department of Telecom to BSNL was done in the year 2000. While converting the Department of Telecom to BSNL, the Government of India has approved a scheme that the whole pensionary and retirement benefits till the date of conversion will be taken care by the Government of India and till the date of conversion all the existing employees would be treated as Government Employees....

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....o the tune of Rs. 61,484/- as per provisions of sub section 2 of section (10AA) of the Act. Coordinate Bench of the Ahmedabad Tribunal on similar facts and circumstances allowed the appeal of the assessee in the case of Pradipkumar Bhogilal Modi Vs. ADIT(CPC) Bengaluru vide I.t.a.No.83/Ahd/2023 dated 19.07.2023. For the sake of clarity and convenience, I extract relevant part of the order of the Tribunal which reads as follows : "7. Heard both the parties and perused all the relevant material available on record. The assessee was absorbed in the Department of Telecommunication in respect of BSNL vide Presidential Order dated 23.09.2019 which has given the permanent absorption effective from 01.10.2000. The assessee was initially ap....