PCIT Vs REI Agro Limited (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court considered the Revenue’s appeal under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against the order dated 31 March 2017 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata Bench, for Assessment Years 2010-11 and 2011-12. The Revenue raised two substantial questions of law.
The first question concerned the Tribunal’s deletion of the addition made by the Assessing Officer under Section 36(1)(va) read with Section 2(24)(x) of the Income Tax Act on account of delayed deposit of employees’ contributions towards PF and ESI, without considering CBDT Circular No. 22 of 2015 dated 17 December 2015.
The second question related to the disallowance under Section 14A of the Income Tax Act read with Rule 8D of the Income Tax Rules, 1962. The Tribunal had affirmed the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), which had decided the issue in favour of the assessee. The High Court noted that an identical issue had arisen in the assessee’s own case for Assessment Year 2008-09, where the Commissioner (Appeals) had granted relief, the Tribunal had confirmed that relief, and the Revenue’s appeal had subsequently been dismissed by the High Court through judgment dated 9 April 2014.
