TMI Blog2015 (10) TMI 2306X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to hold that the project, for which exemption is sought, was completed prior to 31.03.2008 and therefore, we are inclined to record our answer in affirmative to the substantial question of law referred to above. - Decided in favour of assessee. - IT APPEAL NOS. 1 & 2 OF 2012 - - - Dated:- 2-2-2015 - A.V. NIRGUDE AND V.K. JADHAV, JJ. For The Appellant : Alok M. Sharma, Adv. For The Respondent : Anil S. Bajaj, Adv. JUDGMENT A.V. Nirgude, J. These Appeals by Revenue challenged the judgment and order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Pune, in Appeal Nos. 945 to 950/PN/2010. The facts leading to these Appeals are as under : 2. The respondent is a builder and developer company. They had undertaken a Mega Housing Project on a layout covering an area of about 25 acre at Aurangabad. The project was approved in February, 2000. The respondents completed part of the project and obtained Completion Certificate for that part of the project from Aurangabad Municipal Corporation on 10.10.2008. The respondent sought exemption under Section 80-IB(10) of the Income Tax Act in all the assessment years 2002-2008. It was their case that the profit made in these ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... heme is notified by the Board in this behalf; (c) the residential unit has a maximum built-up area of one thousand square feet where such residential unit is situated within the cities of Delhi or Mumbai or within twenty-five kilometres from the municipal limits of these cities and one thousand and five hundred square feet at any other place; (d) the built-up area of the shops and other commercial establishments included in the housing project does not exceed three per cent of the aggregate built-up area of the housing project or five thousand square feet, whichever is higher; (e) not more than one residential unit in the housing project is allotted to any person not being an individual; and (f) in a case where a residential unit in the housing project is allotted to a person being an individual, no other residential unit in such housing project is allotted to any of the following persons, namely:- (i) the individual or the spouse or the minor children of such individual, (ii) the Hindu undivided family in which such individual is the karta, (iii) any person representing such individual, the spouse or the minor children of such individual or the Hindu undivided ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e determinative factor of legislative intent. Similar is the position for conditions stipulated in advertisements. 14. Words and phrases are symbols that stimulate mental references to referents. The object of interpreting a statute is to ascertain the intention of the legislature enacting it. (See institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. Price Waterhouse 1977 (6) SCC 312). The intention of the legislature is primarily to be gathered from the language used, which means that attention should be paid to what has been said as also to what has not been said. As a consequence, a construction which requires for its support, addition or substitution of words or which results in rejection of words as meaningless has to be avoided. As observed in Crawford v. Spooner (1846) 6 MOO pc1, the courts cannot aid the legislature's defective phrasing of an Act, they cannot add or mend, and by construction make up deficiencies which are left there. (See State of Gujarat v. Dilipbhai Nathjibhai Patel 1989 (3) SCC 234). It is contrary to all rules of construction to read words into an Act unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. [see Stock v. Frank Jones (Tipton), Ltd. 1978 (1) ALL ER 9 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aced reliance on a judgment of Gujarat High Court in the case of CIT v. Tarnetar Corpn. [2014] 362 ITR 174 on the point. We have perused the judgment of Gujarat High Court and found that the situation before the Gujarat High Court was similar. The High Court was examining the correctness of the findings recorded by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The High Court mainly placed reliance on the crucial fact that the application seeking Completion Certificate was submitted to the Municipal Corporation prior to 31.03.2008 and therefore, they confirmed the finding of the Court that the requirement of Section was not mandatory in nature. 10. We have no difficulty to accept this contention. We also hold that the explanation is quite clear and does not introduce any uncertainty. In other words, date of completion of a project has to be the date of issuance of Completion Certificate by the Municipal authority. 11. The question we raise here is whether the explanation introduced an element of harshness to such an extent that it rendered the main provision nugatory? In our view, the explanation is introduced recently to put an end to a controversy, which might arise before the Assessin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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