9911796707
TMI Blog2016 (12) TMI 1425X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f ecotourism whether existing in the present case or not. We, therefore, deem it expedient in the interest of justice to restore the entire matter to the file of Assessing Officer for deciding the issue afresh after considering the rule of consistency if the identical facts and circumstances are proved to exist in previous and subsequent years and also in terms of various norms of ecotourism as envisaged in the decision of Hon’ble Uttarakhand High Court in the case of Aanchal Hotels (P) Ltd. (2016 (6) TMI 1033 - UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT) relied on by the assessee before us. Needless to say, the assessee shall be given reasonable opportunity of being heard.- Decided in favour of assessee for statistical purposes. - ITA No. 1901/Del./2014 - - ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent of Apex Court in the case of CIT vs. Taj Mahal reported in 82 ITR 544. 4 That the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has failed to appreciate the detailed submissions and evidence furnished by the appellant to support the claim of deduction and as such, disallowance so sustained is otherwise not in accordance with law. The disallowance made is otherwise based on highly subjective, whimsical and fanciful considerations which neither in law and nor on fact can be validly made a basis to disallow the legitimate claim of deduction and therefore, disallowance so made is illegal, untenable and wholly unsustainable. 5. That various adverse findings recorded by the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) while confirm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for tourism in general but exclusively for ecotourism . Referring to definitions of ecotourism in various dictionaries, the AO further observed that industries eligible for such incentives should be environment friendly with potential for local employment generation and use of local resources. On being asked to justify the claim, the assessee submitted that in order to meet out the ecotourism norms, he has installed solar water heater and CFL lights for energy conservation, installed sewage treatment plant for environment protection, the material used for construction of hotel has been procured locally and for generating the local employment, he has appointed local employees, which factors go to comply with the norms of ecotourism. It w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e environment or natural resources nor making any contribution in any such project or programme. (viii). The AO personally visited the hotel and found no measure relating to ecotourism in existence there. (ix). In view of this, he concluded that the assessee was an ordinary hotel situated in the market which facilitates lodging and boarding facilities like any other hotel and had no relationship with ecotourism. (x). The assessee's contention that his claim had been accepted in the past, also stood discarded by AO observing that acceptance of the assessee s claim in the past did not prevent him from examining its correctness and, if found wrong on merits, disallowing it, as each assessment year is a different assessment year an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rving as under : In this connection, it needs to be put on record that, while deciding the assessee's appeal for AY 2007-08 (Appeal No, 27/HDR/2009-10), I had also adopted the AO's line of thinking. But on a deeper appreciation of the facts and circumstances as well as the provision of law, I am of the view that, if the ratio of the decisions of the Hon'ble ITAT is applied properly, deduction should not be denied simply because the assessee is unable to show that it has the NOC from the Pollution Control Board. It is also put on record that, as per my understanding of the facts and circumstances of the case and the provision of law, the assessee should not get the deduction. It was, therefore, urged that the orders of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sequent years or not is not made clear either on record or from any corroborative evidence before us. We, therefore, observe that the consistent view can be taken only where the facts and circumstances of a particular year are proved to be squarely identical in the other year. Otherwise, each year has to be viewed as separate unit in view of attending facts and circumstances of that year. In fact, existence of identical facts and circumstances is sine qua non for applying the rule of consistency, which does not stand proved in the instant case. The observations of the Assessing Officer and the ld. CIT(A) in the light of various definitions of ecotourism as well as the observations made on the basis of office memorandum of finance bill, 2003 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
