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2021 (10) TMI 1254 - AT - Income TaxEntitlement to interest u/s 244A - nature of amount of refund - refunds admittedly due to it by an order of the Hon’ble Income Tax Settlement Commission, but granted to it after a delay of 98 months - HELD THAT:- Hon’ble Apex Court in case of K.Lakshmanya & Co. [2017 (11) TMI 589 - SUPREME COURT] had held that assessee was entitled to interest u/s 244A of the Act on a refund due to it on account of waiver by the ITSC of interest u/s 234A, 234B and 234C. We hold that the refunds finally determined by the ITSC in the instant case had been wrongfully retained by the department for a considerable period of time and hence department is bound to compensate assessee with interest u/s 244A of the Act. We find from perusal of provisions of section 244A of the Act that the said section does not draw any distinction between ‘tax’ and ‘interest’. It only uses the expression ‘any amount due’. Hence the final refund determined by the ITSC would fall within the ambit of the expression ‘any amount due’ in section 244A of the Act , thereby making the assessee eligible to receive interest u/s 244A of the Act thereon. In view of the aforesaid observations and placing reliance on various judicial precedents relied upon hereinabove including the CBDT Instruction and CBDT Circular we direct the ld AO to grant interest on refund from 14.7.2009 onwards till the date of granting refund for all the Asst Years under consideration. Accordingly, the grounds raised by the assessee are allowed.
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