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2013 (11) TMI 518 - ITAT MUMBAIDeduction u/s 54EC - Investment in two years - The Assessee claimed the exemption of the Capital Gains amounting to Rs. 1,00,00,000 by making investment - The Assessee claims that he has invested the funds within 6 months and therefore is entitled for exemption under Section 54EC - Interpretation of proviso of Section 54EC(1) - Held that:- The plain reading of the section as well as the proviso clearly suggests the same interpretation. There is no ambiguity in the interpretation. Had there been an intention of the legislature to restrict the exemption to Rs.50,00,000/-, the legislature would have provided the embargo in this regard. Restriction relates only to the investment made in any financial year by the assessee. Making of the investment is a condition for availing of the exemption. Condition for availing of the exemption requires that the investment can be made within a period of 6 months. If 6 months falls within a different financial year, as has happened in this case, in our opinion, this Tribunal cannot add the embargo that the assessee cannot make the investment to avail of the exemption under Section 54EC in the different financial year if he had already made the investment in the financial year in which the capital asset is transferred. In our opinion, the language of Section 54EC is clear and unambiguous and it leads to the interpretation that the assessee can make the investment in two different financial years provided in a financial year the investment made did not exceed Rs.50,00,000/-. We have also gone through the circular no. 3/2008 dtd. 12.3.2008 issued by the CBDT being an explanatory note on the provisions relating to direct taxes in Finance Act, 2007 - it is apparent that the Government only intended to restrict the investment in a particular financial year and accordingly has fixed the limit of Rs. 50,00,000/- as permissible limit in a particular financial year. The Government did not intend to restrict the maximum amount of exemption permissible under Section 54EC. Legislature in our opinion has consciously used the words "in a financial year" in the proviso to Sec. 54EC of the Act. If the legislature wanted to restrict the exemption itself to Rs. 50,00,000/-, it could have have simply dispensed with using the words 'in a financial year' - Following decision of Vikrant Tyres Ltd. v. First ITO [2001 (2) TMI 129 - SUPREME Court] and CIT v. Vegetable Products Ltd. [1973 (1) TMI 1 - SUPREME Court] - Decided against Revenue.
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