TMI Blog2000 (9) TMI 999X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he interest payable related to the financial years 1983-84 to 198889. Along with other provisions (which are not the subject-matter of the present appeal before us), the Assessing Officer also disallowed the claim of the assessee about allowability of the above-mentioned amount in terms of the provisions of section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, on the ground that the amount concerned was not paid during the year under consideration. The Assessing Officer relied, firstly, in this connection, on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Mahalakshmi Sugar Mills Co. v. CIT [1980] 123 ITR 429. In that particular case, that assessee, which was engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of sugar, had claimed deduction in respect of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... "interest on tax also". Thus, in addition to other grounds, the Assessing Officer disallowed the claim of the assessee by applying the provisions of section 43B also. At the stage of the first appeal, although, the Commissioner of Incometax (Appeals) decided the issues relating to the other grounds, on which also the disallowance had been made, in favour of the assessee, since the present appellate ground taken up by the Department before us does not concern those issues, we do not pass any comment on the said issues. So far as, however, the question of applicability of the provisions of section 43B(a) to the case of interest on "tax" is concerned, the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), by relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to tax like inter est, etc., should be covered by this particular clause. The learned Departmental Representative also strongly relied on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Mahalakshmi Sugar Mills Co. [1980] 123 ITR 429. On the other hand, learned counsel for the assessee firstly relies on a judgment of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Hindustan Motors Ltd. v. CIT [1996] 218 ITR 450, at page 474. This was a case of applicability of the provisions of section 43B to "interest paid to Customs Department for keeping goods in warehouse beyond free period". The majority view of the Calcutta High Court was that the word "duty" as appearing in clause (a) of section 43B cannot be treated as including within itself the element ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l, Calcutta, in the case of Orient Beverages Ltd. v. Asst. CIT [1994] 49 ITD 162, has also been relied upon by learned counsel for the assessee. In that case also, it was held that interest payable to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation on account of default in payment of municipal tax formed a separate and distinct component and hence could not be considered to form a part of "tax" for the purpose applicability of the provisions of section 43B. We fully agree with the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) that the issue under consideration is required to be tackled by referring to the provisions of section 43B itself. It is not at all possible to agree with the contention of the Assessing Officer and the learned Departmental Representative ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y", "cess" or "fee" should be taken to mean only tax, duty cess or fee and nothing else. We have seen earlier that even under the scheme of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act the expression "tax" has been defined in section 2(hb), to mean only the "tax payable" and does not include anything else like interest or penalty. Hence, we are of the opinion that unless something is really a "tax" under the statute, i.e., the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941, in the instant case, there would be no scope for considering the same to be falling within the mischief of clause (a) of section 43B of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The interpretation has got, therefore, necessarily, to be conservative and strict in nature inasmuch as in a provision imposing c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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