2022 (5) TMI 1608
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.... ITA No.4835/Mum/2017 - A.Y.2010-11 (Revenue Appeal) 2. The ground No.1 raised by the Revenue is challenging the deletion of disallowance of Rs.2,72,31,613/- u/s.43B of the Act. 2.1. We have heard rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. At the outset, we find that the ld. CIT(A) had deleted this disallowance made u/s.43B of the Act by placing reliance on the decision of Tribunal for A.Y.1993-94 in assessee's own case and that the Revenue had not accepted that Tribunal decision and hence, in order to keep the issue alive, this ground is raised by the revenue. This fact is very much evident from the ground raised by the Revenue. As stated supra, we find that this issue is no longer res integra in view of the Co-ordinate Bench decision of this Tribunal in assessee's own case for A.Y.2001-02 in ITA No.4083/Mum/2003 and 7027/Mum/2003 dated 22/10/2014 wherein this issue was adjudicated as under:- "31. Ground No. 1 in Revenue's appeal relates to the disallowance u/s 43B of the Act which has been dealt with by the A.O. at para No. 9-9.5 of his order. The ld. CIT(A) dealt with this issue at page No. 2, para 5 of his order and deleted the disallowance by followin....
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....s not payable. The loan itself was availed of on December 26, 2002, and for one year. It was payable with interest. However, the interest had not become payable and, hence, the question of relying on section 43B to disallow the claim does not arise. By the plain language of this provision and given the factual and admitted position, we do not think that the Tribunal erred in the view that it has taken and, hence, even with regard to this question, we do not agree that the Tribunal's conclusion as reached in paragraph 9.2 of the impugned order raises any substantial question of law. The view taken is neither perverse nor vitiated by any error of law apparent on the face of the record." 2.3. In view of the aforesaid observations and respectfully following the judicial precedents relied upon hereinabove, the ground No.1 raised by the Revenue is dismissed. 3. The ground No.2 raised by the Revenue is challenging the deletion of disallowance of expenditure of Rs.2,47,430/- on account of contribution to local organisations. 3.1. We have heard rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. We find that this issue has been addressed by the ld. AO in page 5 of his or....
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....tion of scholarships, contribution for construction of room at Panchayat, pulse polio camp, family planning camps, infrastructure development in villages, pond deepening, school development, social and economic impact stated by CARD etc., The assessee pleaded that these expenses were incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business and the beneficiaries of these expenses included people residing nearby plant area and other people directly or indirectly connected with the business of the assessee. We find that this issue is no longer res integra in view of the issue in view of the Co-ordinate Bench decision of this Tribunal in ITA No.4083/Mum/2003 and 7027/Mum/2003 dated 22/10/2014 wherein it was held as under:- "38. Ground No. 6 of Revenue's appeal relates to the disallowance of rural development expenses. The A.O. has dealt with this issue at page 9, para 15 and the ld. CIT(A) has dealt with this issue at page 4-5, para 11 of his order. We found that the issue has been decided by the Tribunal in assessee's own case in its favour in assessment years 1998-99, 1999-00 & 2000-01. We further found that the Department on this ground is not in appeal before the Hon'ble High ....
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....d. CIT(A) deleting the disallowance by observing that advertisement film was made only for advertisement and its useful life is very short and such films do not add to the capital structure of the company." 5.2. Respectfully following the aforesaid judicial precedent, the ground No. 4 raised by the Revenue is dismissed. 6. The ground No.5 raised by the Revenue is challenging the deletion of disallowance of Rs.16,60,120/- towards ESOP by placing reliance on the decision of Special Bench of Bangalore Tribunal in the case of Biocon Ltd. 6.1. We have heard rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. We find that assessee had incurred an expenditure of Rs.16,60,120/- on account of employee compensation cost under Employee Stock Options Scheme (ESOS). The entire scheme together with the object and vesting period are addressed in detail by the ld. AO from pages 10-14 of the order. The discount cost incurred on ESOP scheme was written off by the assessee over the vesting period. This issue is squarely covered by the decision of the Special Bench of Bangalore Tribunal in the case of Biocon Ltd., which has been subsequently approved by the Hon'ble Karnataka High Court....
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....ice of the company, the option vest with the employees. 9. In the instant case, the ESOPs vest in an employee over a period of four years i.e., at the rate of 25%, which means at the end of first year, the employee has a definite right to 25% of the shares and the assessee is bound to allow the vesting of 25% of the options. It is well settled in law that if a business liability has arisen in the accounting year, the same is permissible as deduction, even though, liability may have to quantify and discharged at a future date. On exercise of option by an employee, the actual amount of benefit has to be determined is only a quantification of liability, which takes place at a future date. The tribunal has therefore, rightly placed reliance on decisions of the Supreme Court in Bharat Movers supra and Rotork Controls India P. Ltd., supra and has recorded a finding that discount on issue of ESOPs is not a contingent liability but is an ascertained liability. 10. From perusal of section 37(1), which has been referred to supra, it is evident that an assessee is entitled to claim deduction under the aforesaid provision if the expenditure has been incurred. The expression 'expenditur....
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....w taken in PVP Ventures Ltd. And Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd.'case (supra). 13. It is also pertinent to mention here that for Assessment Year 2009-10 onwards the Assessing Officer has permitted the deduction of ESOP expenses and in view of law laid down by Supreme Court in Radhasoami Satsang v. CIT, [1992] 60 Taxman 248/193 ITR 321, the revenue cannot be permitted to take a different stand with regard to the Assessment Year in question." 6.2. Respectfully following the same, the ground No.5 raised by the Revenue is dismissed. 7. The ground No.7 raised by the Revenue is challenging the action of the ld. CIT(A) in granting deduction u/s.80IA of the Act in respect of Rail system at Raipur of Rs.15,36,71,837/- and Rs.12,62,47,956/- at Hotgi. 7.1. We have heard rival submissions and perused the materials available on record. In the opinion of the Revenue, the rail system was not an infrastructure facility within the meaning of Explanation to Section 80IA(4)(i) of the Act and hence, assessee is not entitled for deduction thereon. We find that the ld. AO had rejected the claim of the assessee u/s.80IA of the Act by placing reliance on the order passed by the ld. AO for A.Y.2003-04 and ....
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....m of deduction was justified by assessee by taking the plea that the various conditions as prescribed u/s 80IA(4) was met with in as much as it had entered into an agreement with the government through department of Railways for developing, maintaining and operating the rail system [infrastructure facility]; and that in pursuance thereof it had developed the integrated rail system in between the plant and the nearest railway track [of Indian Railways] and running it [in between] for movement of the inward and outward material so as to enable it to transport the materials from its plants straightaway to the various destinations and vice-versa at all those four locations; and that by way of such operation of rail systems, it has been able to save the expenses for loading [at those plants] into the trucks, road freight and expenses for unloading and loading the same at the site of nearest Indian railways and that resulted into the. profit of such rail systems. 10. However, the AO noted that those agreements were for laying out private sidings and not for any rail system [as referred to in explanation (a) to the clause (t) of sub-section (4) section 80IA in reference to the infrastru....
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....cluding rolling stocks. The AO also observed that the assessee, had not given the said railway system or the crucial component thereof on lease to the railway department [had it been so, the profit by way of lease rent from such rail. system would have qualified for deduction u/s 80lA as per the concession given by the aforesaid circular]. Finally, the AO held that assessee was not eligible to claim the deduction u/s 80lA in r/o such rail systems and disallowed the claim accordingly. 11. In its appellate order CIT(A) noted that the issue has come up first in A.Y. 2004*05. In that year, the assessee had claimed deduction of Rs 15.63 crores in r/o rail system at Hirmi, Raipur District, Chattisgarh. In A.Y. 2005- 06 & 2006-07, the assessee claimed deduction of Rs.16.30 crs & Rs 20.95 crs respectively in r/o that rail system at Hirmi. In A.Y. 2007- 08, the claim was made in r/o two more rail systems [one at Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh & the other at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu]. The total claim for that year amounted to Rs 52.38 crs [Rs 21.09 crs -Hirmi; Rs 25.56 crs -Tadipatri & Rs 5.73 crs -Arakkonam]. In A.Y. 2008-09, the claim extended to one more rail system at Durgapur [West Bengal....
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....ered into an agreement with the railways, which is a part of Government of India. It was submitted that there was option available u/s 80lA with the assessee to claim deduction for any of 10 consecutive years as its own choice. The assessee has opted for claiming the deduction from A. Y. 2004-05 on wards. It was submitted that the income offered for tax by the assessee includes income from rail system and that certificate of M/s Sharp & Tannan, CA in Form No 10CCB certifying the correctness of the aforesaid claim was duly submitted to the AO. 13.1. It was further submitted that the rail system is a profit centre. The rail system is engaged in business of providing transportation facility to the cement plant, profit of which is embedded in the profit of the assessee company as a whole. It was submitted that by developing this infrastructure facility, there has been saving in transportation cost and overall profits of the company have increased due to such savings. It was such that the mere fact that it does not raise an invoice from its railway unit to its cement unit cannot govern the tax implication of the profits delivered by the rail system. In support of its contention that t....
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....ther submitted that the Board Circular No 733 dated 03.01.1996 states that deduction u/s 80lA is applicable to an infrastructure facility meant for development of rail system. It was contended that the AO has categorically stated in para 5.2.3 of his order that rail system was developed by L&T and was inherited by the assessee out of demerger. It was further submitted that in a demerger all the property of the undertaking is necessarily transferred by the demerged company to the resulting company, therefore it is immaterial whether the rail system was developed by L&T Ltd or by the resulting company i.e. the assessee. Further it was submitted that the facility of rail system consists of all that is required to carry on the railway activity in an organized and systematic manner. The activity of rail system is real and substantial and it is carried on with said purpose viz transportation of goods from one place to another and thereby augmenting profits of the company as a whole by saving transportation cost which it would have otherwise incurred. It was further submitted that the profits derived from the rail systems are clearly arising out of the business of developing operating and....
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....d on the decision reported in 40 ITR 123. It was submitted that the ClT(A) has discussed the issue extensively and the findings of the ld CIT(A) remained uncontroverted. Therefore the order of the CIT(A) is liable to be confirmed in this regard. 16.We have heard the rival submission and considered them carefully: We have also perused the various material placed on record on which our attention was drawn. After taking into consideration we find that the CIT(A) has dealt with the aspect in detail. Contention raised before the ClT(A) on behalf of the assessee were not found incorrect or false. Conditions of Sec 80IA have been fulfilled by the assessee. Thereafter, the ClT(A) came to the conclusion that the assessee is eligible for deduction u/s 80IA. The findings of the Id CIT(A) are given in para 3.10 are as under :- 3.10 After perusal of the facts of the case, findings given by the AO and submissions made by the appellant, I find that the only issues in this case is whether the appellant is eligible for deduction u/s 80IA in r/o profits derived from the rail system. There is no dispute that the appellant (i) is a company (if) has developed the rail system and (iii) it" has enter....
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....ity of public utility. For this reason the assessee company was held to be not entitled for the deduction u/s.80IA in r/o the profit, from the operation of rail system. Reasons for the same was as under:- 16. The CIT(A) observed that the agreements under reference were not at all any agreements for developing, maintaining and operating any infrastructure facility to which benefit of exemption is intended to be given in Section 80IA. For this reason also the assessee company was held to be not entitled for deduction u/s.80IA in r/o the profit from the operation of rail system. 17.The CIT(A) also observed that L & T Ltd., who have developed the said rail system was also not eligible u/s.80IA on operations of those rail systems under the provisions that existed at the relevant time i.e., prior to 01/04/2002 when such infrastructure facility was said to have become operational. 18. The CIT(A) observed that the L & T Ltd., did not claim exemption on operation of those rail systems. Rather the assessee company has started claiming exemption from AY 2004-05 after the ownership over the cement plants together with such rail systems were transferred to it following the demerger scheme....
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....) has wrongly applied the provisions of law as applicable prior to 01/04/2002 while considering the assessee's claim for deduction for the A.Y.2009-10 and 2010-11 under consideration. Learned A.R threadbare taken us to the objections raised by the CIT(A) and the reply filed by the assessee controverting each and every objection of the CIT(A). Our attention was invited to the amended provisions of Section 80IA(4) which does not require infrastructure facility to be a public facility for allowing deduction u/s. 80IA. Our attention was also invited to the terms and conditions of the agreement entered between the assessee company and the railway department which contained conditions for construction of railway sidings, development of sidings, laying of tracks, signaling system and all the essential components of rail system. The terms of the agreement also provided for its operation and maintenance. He vehemently argued that the rail systems were developed in accordance with the agreements entered with the Indian Railways, wherein assessee was allowed to operate and maintain these sidings under supervision and as per the guidelines of Indian Railway. Our attention was invited to th....
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.... own case for A.Y.2004-05 to 2008-09, wherein Tribunal have after considering in detail allowed the assessee's claim u/s.80IA with regard to rail system. Sales Tax exemption as capital receipt was also decided by Tribunal in assessee's own case for the A.Y.2004-05 to 2008-09, relevant decision of the Tribunal was also filed before us. 29. Learned AR relied on following judicial pronouncements in support of the proposition that benefit allowed in earlier year cannot be denied in subsequent years. 1. RadhaSoami Satsang v. Commissioner of Income Tax [1992]193 ITR 321 (SC)/[1991] 100 CTR 267 (SC) 2 CIT v. Western Outdoor Interactive (P) Ltd. [349 ITR 309] [BOMBAY] 3 CIT v. Paul Brothers. [216 ITR 548] [BOMBAY] 4. Commissioner of Income Tax v. Macbrout Engineering (P.) Ltd. [2014] 52 taxmann.com 219 (Bombay)/[2015] 232 Taxman 406 (Bombay) 5. CIT v. Modi Industries Ltd. [327 ITR 570] [DELHI] 6. Commissioner of Income Tax v. Delhi Press Patra Prakashan Ltd. [2013]355 ITR 14 (Delhi)/[2013] 260 CTR 253 (Delhi) 7. Saurashtra Cement & Chemical Industries Ltd. v. CIT [11 CTR 139] [GUJARAT] 8.Ace Multi Axes System Ltd. V. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax [2014]367 ITR....
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.... benefit being treated as capital receipt, she relied on the decision of Jammu and Kashmir High Court in the case of Shree Balaji Alloys 198 Taxman 122, Bombay High Court in case of Chaphallkar Brothers 33 Taxman.com 431. 32. With regard to disallowance made u/s.14, she relied on the findings recorded by lower authorities. 33. We have considered rival contentions, carefully gone through the orders of the authorities below and materials placed before us. We had also deliberated on the judicial pronouncements referred by lower authorities in their respective orders as cited by learned AR and DR during the course of hearing before us in the context of factual matrix of the case. 34. Grievance of both the assessee and revenue revolves around assessee's eligibility for claim of deduction u/s.80IA (4) of the Income Tax Act. From the record we found that assessee UltraTech Cement Ltd ('UTCL') has acquired the cement business of Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T') along with the Rail systems at Hirmi, Tadipatri, Arrokonam and Durgapur in the FY 2003-04. These Railway systems were developed on or after 01/04/1995 by the L&T. year wise details of the aforesaid rail systems a....
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....g for incidental expenses paid to all the agencies. The clause in the agreement saying that railway administration is willing to lay the said sidings / construct the siding is meant for Railway administration's permission for allowing the assessee for developing the Rail system as per the norms and supervision of Indian Railways. The revenue authorities alleged that the Railway system have been developed to facilitate the transportation of goods for the assessee from and upto the factory premises, and therefore the Agreements entered into by the assessee with the Indian Railways cannot be regarded as required agreements between the Govt and the assessee. In this respect the assessee submitted as under before the lower authorities. a) as per section 80- IA( 4 )(i)(b) the agreement has to be entered with the Central Govt or a State Govt or a Local Authority or any other statutory body for (i) developing or (ii) Operating and Maintaining or (iii) Developing, Operating and Maintaining the infrastructure facility. Indian Railways is the statutory body under the Indian Railways Act. b) The provision of Sec.80-IA (8) contemplates a situation where goods or services are trans....
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....ein it is mentioned that "the Railway administration will at the cost and the expenses of the applicant, in all respect, construct the railway sidings " Further kindly be informed that, for construction of the siding under the supervision of the Railways, the contract for construction and supervision has been awarded by the applicant and the entire cost has been borne by the applicant. b) Clause no. 6 - Payment by Applicant against the total estimated cost - wherein it is mentioned that, "The applicant will pay in advance to the railway administration the total estimated cost of the work consisting of the estimated costs of work done by the party and those by the railway administration .... " c) Clause no. 7(a) - Permanent way materials - "The applicant will provide and deliver at site the permanent way and other materials (which includes Girders, Rails, Sleepers, fastenings, points, crossings, fencings, signals and overhead structures and any other things connected therewith for electric tractions and other machinery and equipments necessary for working of the sidings) in accordance with the Railway administration's standards and specifications. All charges incurred in lay....
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....garding' Circular No. 733 dated 03-01- 1996, we found that the Circular clarifies that tax holiday benefit u/s. 80-IA of the Act was also available to private enterprises which only built and leased out the rail system to the Indian Railways. In spite the absence of activities- 'operate and maintain' the rail systems, such 'infrastructure facilities' were also declared as eligible to claim deduction under the said section. Further, the circular also states that rail systems developed other than under the BOLT scheme were also eligible for benefit u/s 80-IA. In case of the assessee, the clarification of benefits u/s. 80-IA being available to those rail systems who do not 'operate and maintain' the systems clearly establishes that, enterprises who in fact operate and maintain the rail systems were certainly eligible for tax holiday benefits. As the assessee has entered into agreements with the railway authorities to develop, operate & maintain the rail systems, which in fact the company has done from the initial day. There was indeed an 'infrastructure' facility eligible for deduction u/s 80lA. We also found that the Hon'ble ITAT in assessee....
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....s, systems developed under BOLT scheme are also eligible for 80-IA benefit, and in no way restricts the deduction u/s.80-IA to other rail systems. We found that the Hon'ble ITAT in assessee's own case for AY 2006-07, has categorically allowed the deduction u/s. 80-IA for its rail system after dealing with the Circular No. 733 dtd 3.1.1996. 46. Therefore the agreements as entered into by the assessee with Indian Railways are as envisaged u/s 80- IA( 4 )(i) and in no case it can be inferred that they are not the required agreements under section 80-IA. 47. We also found that no siding charges are levied by Indian Railways for the rail systems developed by the assessee. The assessee has developed, operates and maintains the rail systems. The systems are being operated by the assessee as permitted under the agreements entered into with Indian Railways and under the rules and regulations of Indian Railways from time to time. The entire cost was borne by the assessee and is appearing in the balance sheet of the assessee as placed on record. We have also verified the same and found it correct. 48. Contention of revenue authorities that Railways had constructed the rail syste....
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....t." d) Clause No. 17 - Working of the Siding - wherein it is mentioned that " ... the applicant shall provide labour for and bear the cost of all Operations on the siding. The applicant shall be responsible for the strict compliance by himself and his employees and agents of all rules, regulations and standing orders made by the railway administration from time to time for the working of sidings and for all accidents, loss or damage that may be ensured or be caused by reasons of negligence or non-observance of such rules, regulations and orders .... " Further, the appellant carries out all the operations for smooth movement of its goods, viz. Shunting of the Wagons, placing of the wagons at appropriate locations, Loading / Unloading of Wagons within the stipulated time and stipulated methods of Indian Railways through Wagon Loading Machines and Wagon Tipplers, Weighing of Wagons on Motion Weigh Bridges, Maintaining signa ling systems, Wagons, Couplings, Rake formation for dispatch, hauling of Wagons through its own locomotives, etc. Further, in Clause No. 14 - Traffic on Siding - it is mentioned that " .... applicant undertakes to shunt the wagons from such point to his premise....
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....lue of the services provided by the undertaking as per the provisions of Sec. 80IA(8) and the assessee is entitled for benefit u/s 80IA accordingly. However, the basis adopted for calculating the revenue from rail system by the assessee has been conservatively considered as lower of the freight chargeable through Rail and Road freight saved. The rail freight being lower is considered after further discounting it by 50% based on the circular of Indian Railways for the freight chargeable upto the nearest railway station. 52. We also found that assessee has furnished all the information with regard to No. of Railway Engines / Locomotives and Railway Wagons owned by the assessee before the lower authorities which are as under:- Rail Systems at No. of Engines / Locomotives No. Wagons Hirmi 2 49 Tadipatri 2 76 Arakkonam 1 30 Durgapur 2 30 53. Unitwise details of amount of claim of deduction u/s.80-IA on the profits of Rail System for AY 04-05 to AY 09-10 is as under:- Rail Stems at AY 04-05 AY 05-06 AY 06-07 AY 07-08 AY 08-09 AY 09-10 Hirmi 15.63 16.13 20.95 21.09 24.33 28.26 Tadipatri - - - 25.56 25.22 31.03 Arakkonam ....
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....n to section 801A(4) defines the term 'infrastructure facility' to mean a road including toll road, a bridge or a rail system without anything further. We observe that the CIT(A) has been referring to the pre-amended definition of the term 'infrastructure facility' which was applicable till AY 2001-02. The assessee company began its claim of deduction from AY 2004-05 when the definition was simplified with no indication about 'public facility'. Thus CIT(A) was not correct while declining claim of deduction u/s.80IA(4) on this reasoning. 57. As per our considered view, even assuming that the requirement of public facility is to be fulfilled, it is worth noting that a section of public is also considered to be public. This principle has been laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the context of a Chamber of Commerce [CIT vs. Andhra Chamber of Commerce (1965)] (55 ITR 722) wherein it was ruled that even though the Andhra Chamber of Commerce was established only to serve the traders and businessmen in the State of Andhra Pradesh, such traders and businessmen constituted a section of public and therefore the Chamber existed for a public charitable purpos....
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....& conditions for construction of Private Sidings and that cannot be treated as any agreement for development, operation & maintenance of any Rail system, we observe that as per section 80-IA(4)(i)(b), an assessee has to enter into an agreement with the Central Government or a State Government or a Local Authority or any other statutory body for (i) developing or (ii) Operating and Maintaining or (iii) Developing, Operating and Maintaining the infrastructure facility. The Indian Railways, with whom the assessee has entered into an agreement, is the statutory body designated under the Indian Railways with whom the assessee has entered into an agreement, is the statutory body designated under the Indian Railways Act. We found that the agreement does not merely contain the terms and conditions of the construction of railway siding i.e. development of siding (laying of tracks, signal system and all the essential components of Rail Systems) but it also contains the terms and conditions relating to its operation and maintenance as well. 60. Our attention was also invited to letter No. 99/TC(FM)26/1/Pt-II (Sub Liberalisation of siding 'Rules) of the Railway Boar clarifying that the c....
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.... the statutory body designated under the Indian Railways Act. 65. We also observe that the agreements entered into by the assessee are for the development, operation and maintenance of the Railway siding. Thus this fulfills the requirement in clause (b). 66. The last requirement as per clause (c) is regarding commencement of operation and maintenance of facility on or after 1st April 1995. All the railway sidings were developed after April 1995 as can be verified from the date of agreements entered into by the assessee with the Railway authorities; which are as under:- Location Authority with which Date of agreement Agreement is entered Hirmi South Eastern Railway March 2000 Tadipatri South central Railway 03-05-1999 Arakkonam Southern Railway 08-01-2001 Durqapur Eastern Railway 18-10-2002 67. This also is an undisputed fact and there is no adverse remark by the AO or CIT(A) in this regard. In view of above all the conditions specified in section 80IA(4) has been complied with by the assessee entitling it to claim the tax holiday. 68. With regard to CIT(A)'s observation that the actual operation of Rail System [i.e. running of g....
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....ndent booking station and the freight was charged by the railway department for the entire distance including the portion of private sidings [upto interchange point / exchange yard], we observe that this is a fact which is undisputed by the assessee and nothing turns out of it. 75. CIT(A) also alleged that the notional profit computed for so called rail system has been very exorbitant and the method is also not correct. It need to be computed in the manner as explained in para 3.2.14 [with reference to table F] above. If that is done, there would hardly be any profit to those rail systems. 76. In this regard, we found that prior to setting up of railway siding, the assessee used to transport its goods through road to the nearest railway station. Only the few components of the cost of road transportation, which the cement division of the assessee was hitherto incurring for transportation of materials to and from the factory premises, is adopted as the basis of calculating the revenue of the railway undertaking. The revenue is, however, computed for the actual services rendered by the railway undertaking to the cement division. 77. After verifying the computation of income elig....
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....by the railway undertaking. 81. In view of the above discussion, the explanation given by the CIT(A) and the tabular representation of the computation of revenue of rail system in Table F, has no relevance since it is merely based on his incorrect assumption. 82. Further, we found that observation of CIT(A) with respect to the freight rate is also not correct in so far as for comparison, he has considered the rate per quintal as against per Metric Ton adopted by the assessee which can be observed from the calculation submitted by assessee before the lower authorities. Without any evidence in hands, the CIT(A) has merely stated that crucial facts were not disclosed by the assessee without referring to any specific facts which were not disclosed. Perhaps he is indicating about the operations of railway siding being carried out by the railways and not by the assessee. However, as aforesaid, he is comparing the operation of railway siding with merely hauling of wagons. The operations of railway siding involves various activities other than the hauling of wagons. Mere haulage of wagons cannot be equated with operations of railway siding. We found that assessee has filed reports in F....
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....fect from 1-4-2002 some significant changes were made in the said provisions. Three of these changes which are material were: (i) that sub-section (4) of section 80-IA now required the enterprise to carry on the business of developing or operating and maintaining or developing, operating and maintaining any infrastructure facility. This was in contrast to the previous requirement of all three conditions being cumulatively satisfied; (ii) that the explanation of the term 'infrastructure facility' was changed to besides others, a road including toll road instead of hitherto existing expression 'road', and (iii) that the requirement of transferring the infrastructural facilities developed by the enterprise to the Central or the State Government or the local authority within the time stipulated in the agreement was done away with. 33. These changes, however, would not alter the situation vis-a-vis the impugned amendment. These legislative changes did enlarge the scope of the deduction and in a sense, made it available to certain assessees who would not have been, but for the changes eligible for such deduction " 86. In terms of the above averments, after acquiring the....
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....ssessee- company, whose main object was extraction of seeds for obtaining edible oils and refining thereof, set up a new industrial undertaking for the extraction and refining of edible oil. It claimed to have temporarily commenced the activity on and from 1-1-1997 on a trial run; however, the systematic activity of refining commenced only in the previous year relating to the assessment year 1998-99. After the final completion of the project, the assessee-company applied directly for a permanent registration certificate of its status as a small scale industry (SSI) under section 11-B of the Industrial Development Regulation Act, 1951 (IRDA) to the prescribed authority, who granted the certificate dated 30-3-1998, which was a conclusive and final proof of such a status under the provisions of IRDA. The return of income filed earlier by the assessee for the assessment year 1999-2000 as subsequently revised, wherein a claim of deduction under section 80-IA was made. The Assessing Officer disallowed the claim of the assessee, on the ground that the assessee started production from the assessment year 1997-98 itself, the year in which the assessee was not a small scale industry, and, th....
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....deduction cannot be disallowed on the same ground. Hon'ble High Court decision in the case of Saurashtra Cement & Chemical Industries Ltd. v. CIT [1980] 123 ITR 669 (Guj), has pointed out that once deduction is allowed in the first year, revenue has no power to deny the deduction in subsequent assessment years as provided under the Act. 93. Even the Supreme Court in case of Bajaj Tempo's case (196 ITR 188) held that a provision in the taxing statute for promoting growth and development is to be construed liberally and hence, even the restriction contained in such a provision has to be construed so as to advance the objective of the provision and not to frustrate it. 94. The CIT(A) has also raised an objection to the effect that since L & T was not eligible for deduction u/s.80IA on operation of those rail system, then whether the assessee company, which inherited the cement business [i.e. cement plants together with said rail system] of the L& T Ltd in the FY 2003-04 on account of demerger, could be treated as eligible to the deduction under the aforesaid section in respect of profit, if any, of those rail system for the later years. In this regard we observe that asses....
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....No.6 raised by the Revenue is challenging the action of the ld. CIT(A) directing the ld AO not to reduce the claim of deduction of Rs.10,25,627/- u/s.80IA of the Act towards apportionment of head office expenses. The ld. AO in pages 16 & 17 of his order in respect of apportionment of head office expenses observed as under:- * The assessee has claimed deduction u/s.80IA in respect of its seven units, viz., Rail System, Raipur (Rs.15,36,71,837/-, AC Thermal Power (Rs.18,66,57,139/-), Grasim Cement Thermal Power (Rs.7,21,02,501), Rail System, Hotgi (Rs.12,62,47,956), Rajashree Cement Power-III (Rs.12,17,15,646/-), Grasim South Terhmal Power (Rs.6,14,19,461/-) and Birla White Power (Rs.2,20,44,674/-). Since, Head Office is a controlling unit, which manages affairs of all the units, proportionate expenses of Head Office should be deducted from the eligible profits of respective units. Accordingly, proportionate of Head Office expenses is worked out in the ratio of turnover total expenses of Head Office. Total turnover of the company is Rs.4,745.70 Crores and total expense of Head Office is Rs.3.46 Crores. Hence, the ratio is 0.07%. The eligible deduction will be reduced by 0.07% of th....