9911796707
TMI Blog2018 (10) TMI 1121X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion u/s. 80(P) of The Income Tax Act 1961. 2. The grounds relied on by the Income Tax officer for denying the Appellants eligibility for deduction U/s. 80(P) of The Income Tax Act is not well based. 3. The Appellant being a duly registered Co- Operative Society u/s 7(1) of The Kerala Co- Operative Societies Act 1969 is a Co-Operative Society as defined U/s.2(19) of the Income Tax Act 1961. 4. The appellant Society is evidently a primary Cooperative, Agricultural & Rural Development Bank as defined U/s.80(P)(4) of The Income Tax Act, providing credit facilities to its members for Agricultural And allied Rural Development activities in Kottayam, Changanacherry and Vaikom Taluks. 5. The object of the Appellant Society is described ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d is squarely applicable in the Assessee's case. 9. The CIT (Appeals) has not properly understood the argument notes, submitted at the time of hearing and also the explanations given there in, regarding the case laws, relied on by the Assessing Officer, as misplaced relating to the amended clause 80P (4) and the Impact of article" a" used therein." 4. Brief facts of the case are as follows:- The assessee is a Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969. For the assessment year 2011-2012, the return of income was filed on 28.09.2011 declaring total income of Rs. 1,70,260 after claiming deduction u/s 80P of the I.T.Act, amounting to Rs. 35,39,804. The assessment w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re than one Taluk. While the amendment also defines Primary Co-operative Agricultural & Rural Development Banks as a society having its area of operation confined to "A" Taluk. The usage of the article "a" before the word Taluk is not to be understood to indicate a single Taluk. He further submitted that the reliance placed by the Assessing Officer in the case of West Bengal Warehousing Corporation v. Indrapuri Studio Pvt. Ltd. is clearly misplaced. In that case the Hon'ble Apex Court was only concerned with the scope of definition clause, which uses the expression "means" instead of "includes" and the Hon'ble Apex Court has held that while "includes" is not an exhaustive definition "means" should be understood as a hard and fast definition ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Credit Societies registered as such under the KAC Act and classified so under that Act are entitled to exemption u/s 80P of the I.T.Act. The learned Counsel, therefore, prayed that the usage of article "a" before the word taluk is not to be understood to indicate a single taluk by the Assessing Officer and deny the benefit of Sec.80P(4)(a), (b) in the case of the assessee and the deduction granted u/s 80 P(2)(a) of the I.T.Act . 7. The Departmental Representative, on the other hand, relied on orders of the Income-tax authorities. 8. We have heard the rival submissions and perused the material on record. We find that an identical issue has been considered by the Tribunal in assessee's own case for the immediately assessment year 2010-2011 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... singular shall include the plural, and vice versa. The Ld. Sr. Counsel relied on certain judicial pronouncements interpreting Article 'A' in the context of deduction u/s. 54 and 54F of the I.T. Act. 6.3 The Finance Act, 2006 has defined the expression "Primary Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank" by inserting Explanation to section 80P(4) which reads as under: "(b) "primary co-operative agricultural and rural development bank" means a society having its area of operation confined to a taluk and the principal object of which is to provide for long-term credit for agricultural and rural development activities." 6.4 Explanation (b) to section 80P(4) is a defining provision employing the word 'means'. The Hon'ble Apex C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ' is used "before nouns and noun phrases that denote a single, but unspecified, person or thing.......". [Webster's Dictionary] 'A' is used to mean or denote 'one'. A Taluk is a revenue division. Few villages constitute a taluk and few taluks constitute a District. 6.6 The mischief of sub-section (4) will not fall on a primary cooperative agricultural and rural development bank provided it's operation is limited to a taluk and the principal object of which is to provide for long term credit for agricultural and rural development activities. Since the assessee's area of operation was not confined to a Taluk for the relevant assessment year, we hold that it was not entitled to the benefit of deduction u/s. 80P(2) of the Act. Therefore, we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
