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2016 (8) TMI 206 - AT - Income TaxInterest on delayed grant of refund in terms of section 244A(1) - delay in grant of refund - Held that:- Relevant TDS certificates were furnished alongwith the return of income and it is also irrefutable that the tax was deducted and deposited in the account of the Central Government within the stipulated period. Therefore, in our view, income-tax authorities have erred in construing that the proceedings resulting in the refund are delayed for reasons attributable to the assessee within the meaning of Sec. 244A(2) of the Act. Section 245RR prescribes that no income-tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal shall proceed to decide any issue in respect to which an application has been made to the AAR, so however, such a restriction is placed only for an assessee-applicant who is a resident of India as per the Act, whereas the appellant-assessee before us is a non-resident. Apart therefrom, we do not find any provision which places restrictions on any income-tax authority to proceed to decide any issue before it, in case an application is pending before the AAR. Be that as it may, in our view, if the proceedings resulting in refund are delayed on account of pendency of an application before the AAR, the same cannot be construed as ‘reasons attributable to the assessee’ within the meaning of Sec. 244A(2) of the Act. Therefore, the aforesaid stand of CIT(A), in our view, is untenable in law. In this view of the matter, in our considered opinion, in the present case, the provisions of Sec. 244A(2) of the Act cannot be invoked by the Assessing Officer to deny interest u/s 244A(1) of the Act on account of delay in grant of refund from the period 1.4.2003 up to the date of grant of such refund, i.e., 20.7.2006. - Decided in favour of assessee.
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