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2018 (5) TMI 1157 - HC - Income TaxInterest u/s 234B - Interest for defaults in payment of advance tax - whether interest should be charged on the amount after considering refund which was issued on passing intimation u/S.143(1)(a) - Held that:- In order to address the mischief as in the present case, the legislature found it necessary to insert section 234D to the Act. Reference is made to subsection (4) of section 143 providing that where a regular assessment under section 143(3) or section 144 is made, any tax or interest paid under section 143(1) shall be deemed to have been paid towards such regular assessment and if no refund is due on regular assessment or the amount refunded under section 143(1) exceeds the amount refundable on regular assessment, the whole or the excess amount so refunded would be deemed to be tax payable by the assessee. Despite this, the legislature was of the opinion that in a case where refund is already granted upon processing return under section 143(1) of the Act but in eventual assessment it is found that the refund granted is in excess or that return does not give rise to any refund claim at all, the existing statute does not provide for levying interest. Clearly the legislature was of the opinion that even with the aid of the provisions of subsection (4) of section 143 of the Act, the existing provisions cannot be so interpreted as to levy interest in such a case. It is well settled that interpreting a statutory provision, one of the useful external aids is to ascertain what was the position prior to enactment of the statute and what mischief the statute seeks to address. If the very object of inserting section 234D to the Act was to address a situation which was inadequate to levy interest in a case like the present one, interpretation advanced by the Revenue must be rejected. If we accept the contention of the Revenue that existing section 234B of the Act already covered such a situation, insertion of section 234B of the Act would be rendered meaningless and the provisions of section 234D superfluous. Appeal allowed.
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