National Agricultural Coop. MKT. Vs CIT (Delhi High Court)
The Delhi High Court considered a batch of appeals concerning whether the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) was justified in allowing a miscellaneous application filed by the Revenue and rectifying its earlier order on the basis of a subsequent amendment to Section 80P(2)(a)(iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and a Supreme Court decision upholding that amendment.
The assessee contended that the Tribunal had erred in allowing the Revenue’s miscellaneous application. It was argued that when the Tribunal originally decided the appeals on 31.08.1998, the relevant amendment to Section 80P(2)(a)(iii) had not yet been introduced. According to the assessee, the amendment came into force only on 08.01.1999 and, even though it was given retrospective effect from 01.04.1968, such a subsequent amendment could not render the Tribunal’s earlier order erroneous on the face of the record. Therefore, it was submitted that there was no apparent mistake warranting rectification.
The Revenue, on the other hand, argued that the amendment had been expressly made retrospective from 01.04.1968. Consequently, the legal fiction created by the amendment required the amended provision to be treated as if it had always been in force from that date, including when the Tribunal passed its original order.
