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TMI Blog2017 (12) TMI 1256X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5/- and claimed capital gains exemption u/s 54B of the Act. During the course of assessment proceedings, the A.O. has asked the assessee that how you are eligible for exemption u/s 54B of the Act. The assessee has submitted before the A.O. that section 54B of the Act not excluded the HUF. It has only mentioned "the assessee or a parent of his". This part of the section was amended by the Finance Act, 2012 w.e.f. 1.4.2013. This amendment is clarificatory in nature and prayed that exemption u/s 54B of the Act may be granted to the assessee. The A.O. after considering the explanation of the assessee, he has observed that a plain reading of section 54B of the Act shows that individual only eligible to claim deduction u/s 54B of the Act. He further observed that the subsequent amendment made to section 54B of the Act including HUF, applies only for the assessment year 2013-14 and not for the assessment year under consideration. Accordingly, the A.O. has disallowed the exemption claimed by the assessee u/s 54B of the Act. 3. On being aggrieved, assessee carried matter in appeal before the CIT(A). The Ld. CIT(A) considered the detailed submissions made by the assessee and he confirmed th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he great hardship may appear to the judicial mind to be. On the other hand, if the Crown seeking to recover the tax, cannot bring the subject within the letter of the law, the subject is free. however apparently within the spirit of law the case might otherwise appear to be" (Lord Cairns) b) "In a taxing Act one has to look merely at what is clearly said. There is no room for any intendment. There is no equity about a tax. There is no presumption as to tax. Nothing is to be read in, nothing is to be implied." (Rowlatt, J.) c) The provisions in a taxing statute dealing with machinery for assessment have to be construed by the ordinary rules of construction, that is to say, in accordance with the clear intention of the legislature, which is to make a levy of charge effective. Gursahai Saigal Vs CIT(SC) 48 ITR 1 d) When there is no ambiguity in the provisions of the statute. provisions cannot be interpreted to confer benefit on assessee IRCA Laboratory Ltd. Vs DCIT (SC) 266 ITR 521 e) Principle of beneficial interpretation would apply only in a case where the Court is in doubt about the true scope and ambit of the provision or finds two equally reasonable interpretations a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... No. Appellant's Claim in his letter dated 12.8.2015 Remarks 1. Nowhere in the section was it stated the HUF is not eligible to claim the deduction u/s 54B of the Income Tax Act or individual only eligible. However, the Learned Assessing Officer held that only individual is eligible which is against the Law In the case of CIT Vs. Devarajulu 191 ITR 211 Hon'ble Madras High Court held as follows. "In view of the aforesaid observations of the Supreme Court, the word assessee" occurring in section 54B of the Act can also be interpreted in such a manner as to accord with the context and subject of its usage. The words "assessee of a parent of his" occurring in section 54B of the Act, in the context in which the word "assessee" has been used and from the meaning of the words associated with it, would appear to us to clearly indicate that only an "individual assessee' has been contemplated and not any other entity of assessment. No doubt, under the provisions of the Act, a Hindu undivided family is a distinct taxable entity for the purposes of the Act, apart from the individual members constituting it Even so, if, in place of the word "assessee" occurring in section 54B of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 19 of the Finance Act, 1987, in section 54(1) of the Act, a Hindu undivided family has also been included. The legislative change thus brought about is also an indication that what had been contemplated by "assessee" under section 54(1) of the Act was not a Hindu undivided family but only an individual. While a change had been brought in section 54(1) of the Act, section 54B of the Act had been left intact. This, in our view, also clearly indicates that though Parliament was fully alive to the need for including a Hindu undivided family within the scope of section 54(1) of the Act, for some reasons, it had not thought it fit to do so in a case falling under section 54B of the Act. Thus, on a careful consideration of the words employed and interpreting the words in the context in which they have been used and their collocation, we hold that the word "assessee" used in section 54B would be applicable only to thec ase of an "individual" and would not take in a Hindu undivided family." 2 Finance Act 2012 brought a clarification amendment by substituting the words "assessee being an individual or his parent, or a Hindu undivided family, in place of "the assessee or a parent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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