9911796707
TMI Blog2022 (6) TMI 1102X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e u/s. 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (in short, the 'Act') by DCIT, Circle-7(1), Kolkata on 27-12-2016 for the A.Y. under consideration, whereby a sum of Rs. 1,79,53,513/- was disallowed/added back on account of failure of the assessee-appellant on account of deposit of employees contribution to PF/ESI. 2. The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal:- 1 For that the Ld. CIT(A) erred in confirming the action of AO in disallowing delayed deposit of employees contribution towards PF and ESI amounting to Rs. 1,79,53,513/- by invoking the provisions of section 36(1) when the same was paid within the due date of filing the return of income and was therefore dully allowable under the law. 2. For that the Ld. CIT(A) er ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of PF/ESI of Rs. 1,79,53,513/- was disallowed/added back on such failure of the appellant/assessee to deposit the employees contribution to PF/ESI beyond the due date by relying on various case laws available in the assessment order. Aggrieved by the order of the Ld. A.O., the appellant assessee preferred an appeal before the Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi, The Ld. CIT(A) considering the various case laws available in his order dismissed the appeal of assessee by upholding/confirming the said disallowance as made by the Ld. A.O. 5. Aggrieved by the above order of the Ld. CIT(A), now the assessee is in appeal before us by raising the aforementioned grounds of appeal. 6. At the out ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce. 8. After hearing the rival submissions and perusing the material available on record, we find that the issue in hand is fully covered in favour of assessee by the said order dt. 17-11-021 of this tribunal (supra). Relevant findings of the said order is reproduced herein below for the sake of clarity:- "17. Have heard both the parties. We note that the Finance Bill, 2021 has brought in an amendment which disallows the employees' contribution made in PF and ESI if not made within the due date as prescribed by the respective statutes (PF and ESI Act). So after the amendment has been inserted according to Shri Miraj D. Shah takes effect from 1st April, 2021 i.e. AY 2021-22 and subsequent assessment year and if the remittance of PF/ES ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e purpose of determining the 'due date' under this clause'. 18. We find that this amendment has been brought in the Act to provide certainty about the applicability of Section 43B in respect of belated payment of employees' contribution. In order to test whether the amendment brought in later is retrospective or not one has to apply the test as laid by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M/s. Snowtex Investment Ltd. (supra) wherein the Hon'ble Supreme court took note of the law laid down on this issue by the Constitution Bench in M/s. Vatika Township Ltd. and held that the intent of the Parliament/legislature need to be looked into for ascertaining whether the amendment should be retrospective or not. In Vatik ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Co-ordinate Division Bench decision in M/s. Aimil Ltd. (supra) which is in favour of assessee. So we note that later decision of the Delhi/Hyderabad Tribunal have followed the decision favouring assessee in the light of the Hon'ble Supreme Court decision in M/s. Vegetable Products (supra). In the light of the aforesaid decision and relying on the ratio of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Vatika Township Pvt. Ltd. (supra) and M/s. Snowtex Investment Ltd. (supra) and also taking note of the binding decision of the Hon'ble Jurisdictional Calcutta High Court on this issue before us in Shri Vijayshree Ltd. Ltd. (supra), M/s. Philips Carbon Black Ltd. (supra), M/s. Coal India Ltd. (supra), M/s. Akzo Nobel India Ltd. (supra), w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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