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TMI Blog2015 (9) TMI 79X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 61 of 2015 3. These two appeals by the Revenue under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act ('Act') are directed against the common order dated 21st July 2014 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ('ITAT') in ITA No. 2972/Del/2012 and ITA No. 877/Del/2013 for the Assessment Years ('AYs') 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively. 4. At the outset, it is pointed out by learned counsel for the Revenue that the questions (a) to (e) as projected by the Revenue in para 2 of the memorandum of appeal concerning ITAT's order deleting certain additions stand answered in favour of the Assessee by the order dated 2nd March 2015 in ITA No. 162 of 2015 (CIT v. Ansal Land Mark Township (P) Ltd.) concerning and earlier AY. Consequently, those questions for th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g tax at source under Section 194J of the Act. Before the ITAT, it was urged by the Assessee that in view of the insertion of the second proviso to Section 40(a) (ia) of the Act, the payment made could not have been disallowed. Reliance was placed on the decision of the Agra Bench of ITAT in ITA No. 337/Agra/2013 (Rajiv Kumar Agarwal v. ACIT) in which it was held that the second proviso to Section 40 (a) (ia) of the Act is declaratory and curative in nature and should be given retrospective effect from 1st April 2005. 9. It is seen that the second proviso to Section 40(a) (ia) was inserted by the Finance Act 2012 with effect from 1st April 2013. The effect of the said proviso is to introduce a legal fiction where an Assessee fails to deduc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the account of a resident such person shall not be deemed to be an assessee in default in respect of such tax if such resident has furnished his return of income under Section 139 of the Act. No doubt, there is a mandatory requirement under Section 201 to deduct tax at source under certain contingencies, but the intention of the legislature is not to treat the Assessee as a person in default subject to the fulfilment of the conditions as stipulated in the first proviso to Section 201(1). The insertion of the second proviso to Section 40(a) (ia) also requires to be viewed in the same manner. This again is a proviso intended to benefit the Assessee. The effect of the legal fiction created thereby is to treat the Assessee as a person not in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... such tax deductions are due, but, so far as the legal framework is concerned, this provision is not for the purpose of penalizing for the tax deduction at source lapses. There are separate penal provisions to that effect. Deincentivizing a lapse and punishing a lapse are two different things and have distinctly different, and sometimes mutually exclusive, connotations. When we appreciate the object of scheme of section 40(a)(ia), as on the statute, and to examine whether or not, on a "fair, just and equitable" interpretation of law- as is the guidance from Hon'ble Delhi High Court on interpretation of this legal provision, in our humble understanding, it could not be an "intended consequence" to disallow the expenditure, due to no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... related legal provision was introduced. In view of these discussions, as also for the detailed reasons set out earlier, we cannot subscribe to the view that it could have been an "intended consequence" to punish the assessees for non deduction of tax at source by declining the deduction in respect of related payments, even when the corresponding income is duly brought to tax. That will be going much beyond the obvious intention of the section. Accordingly, we hold that the insertion of second proviso to Section 40(a)(ia) is declaratory and curative in nature and it has retrospective effect from 1st April, 2005, being the date from which sub clause (ia) of section 40(a) was inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004." 14. The Court is of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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