2015 (11) TMI 1872 - AT - Income Tax

Eligibility of Deduction u/s 80IB - HELD THAT - We find that this Tribunal in assessee s own case for assessment year 2004-05 had held that the assessee was entitled to deduction u/s 80IB. The AO has not followed the ITAT s order on the ground that the Department has filed the appeal against the decision before the Hon ble High Court. CIT(Appeals) has not accepted the ITAT s decision on the ground that the Tribunal was not properly apprised of the facts. We find that since the facts are identical and in assessee s own case the Tribunal has decided the issue judicial discipline mandates that we follow the order of the Tribunal. We further note that the Revenue has already filed appeal before the Hon ble High Court 2010 (4) TMI 1232 - BOMBAY HIGH COURT . In this view of the matter since the Hon ble jurisdictional High Court has not reversed the decision of ITAT we follow the above said order of ITAT in assessee s own case. Hence we set aside the order of learned CIT(Appeals) and hold that the assessee is eligible for deduction u/s 80IB. - Assessee appeal allowed.

Summary

Issues:
- Eligibility for deduction u/s 80IB of the I.T. Act

Analysis:
The appeal was filed against the order of the CIT(Appeals) pertaining to the assessment year 2006-07. The main issue raised was the eligibility of the assessee for deduction under section 80IB of the Income Tax Act. The assessee argued that a previous decision by the Tribunal in their own case for the assessment year 2004-05 supported their eligibility for the deduction. The Department, represented by the learned D.R., contended that the earlier decision was not elaborately discussed and therefore not applicable to the current case.

Upon careful consideration, the Tribunal noted that in the previous case for the assessment year 2004-05, it had been held that the assessee was entitled to the deduction under section 80IB. Despite the Department filing an appeal against this decision before the High Court and the CIT(Appeals) not accepting the Tribunal's decision due to alleged lack of proper information, the Tribunal found that judicial discipline mandated following its own previous order. The Tribunal emphasized that since the facts were identical and the High Court had not reversed the Tribunal's decision in the previous case, the assessee was indeed eligible for the deduction under section 80IB.

Therefore, the Tribunal set aside the order of the CIT(Appeals) and allowed the appeal filed by the assessee, concluding that the assessee was eligible for the deduction under section 80IB. The order was pronounced in the Open Court on the 30th day of November 2015.