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Issues Involved:
1. Whether the relief u/s 80M given to the assessee originally was a mistake rectifiable by the Income-tax Officer u/s 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Summary: Issue 1: Rectifiability of Mistake u/s 154 The Tribunal referred the question for the court's opinion on whether the relief u/s 80M given to the assessee originally was a mistake rectifiable by the Income-tax Officer u/s 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The factual background involved the assessee, a private limited company, filing returns for the assessment years 1968-69 and 1969-70, showing losses. The Income-tax Officer passed orders u/s 154, correcting the computation of deductions u/s 80M, which the assessee challenged before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner (AAC). The AAC held that the issue was not a mistake apparent from the record and involved controversial interpretation of sections 80A, 80B(5), and 80M. The Tribunal, however, restored the Income-tax Officer's orders, stating that the mistakes were discernible from the record. The court observed that a "mistake apparent from the record" u/s 154 must be patent, obvious, and not dependent on argument or elaboration. The court emphasized that section 154 does not permit the substitution of an order but only rectification of apparent errors. The Tribunal's approach to recompute the income and deductions involved debatable issues, which are not covered by section 154. The court concluded that the so-called mistakes were not of the nature covered by section 154. Conclusion: The court answered the question in the affirmative, in favor of the assessee and against the Revenue, holding that the Tribunal was not justified in holding that there was a mistake apparent on the face of the record.
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