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DATE: September 10, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 14, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
Law Commission and the Bar Council of India should consider whether Advocates should be tested for fitness and competence to argue matters

The interest of justice may suffer if the counsel conducting the trial is physically or mentally unfit on account of any disability. The interest of the society is paramount and instead of trials being conducted again on account of unfitness of the counsel, reform may appear to be necessary so that such a situation does not arise. Perhaps time has come to review the Advocates Act and the relevant Rules to examine the continued fitness of an advocate to conduct a criminal trial on account of advanced age or other mental or physical infirmity, to avoid grievance that an Advocate who conducted trial was unfit or incompetent. This is an aspect which needs to be looked into by the concerned authorities including the Law Commission and the Bar Council of India

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DATE: September 11, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 14, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08
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CITATION:
S. 54: To constitute purchase of new house, a registered sale deed is not necessary. Suspicion, howsoever strong, cannot partake the character of evidence

For the purpose of attracting the provisions of Section 54 of the IT Act, it is not necessary that the Assessee should become the owner of the property. Section 54 of the said Act speaks of purchase. Moreover, the ownership of the property may have different connotation in different statutes. It is wrong to hold that for the purpose of applicability of Section 54, registration of document is imperative

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DATE: September 2, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 14, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09, 2009-10
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CITATION:
S. 10A/ 10B: If Tribunal upholds Revenue's plea that assessee is not entitled to S. 10B, it must consider the assessee's alternate plea for s. 10A deduction even if such alternate plea has not been raised before the lower authorities

A respondent in an appeal, if he has not filed a cross-appeal, is deemed to be satisfied with the decision. He is, therefore, entitled to support the judgment of the first officer on any ground but he is not entitled to raise a ground which will work adversely to the appellant. In fact such a ground may be a totally new ground, if it is purely one of law, and does not necessitate the recording of any evidence, even though the nature of the objection may be such that it is not only a defence to the appeal itself but goes further and may affect the validity of the entire proceedings. But the entertainment of such a ground would be subject to the restriction that even if it is accepted, it should be given effect to only for the purpose of sustaining the order in appeal and dismissing the appeal and cannot be made use of, to disturb or to set aside, the order in favour of the appellant

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DATE: September 10, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 12, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10, 2011-12
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CITATION:
Even post insertion of proviso to s. 2 (15) but before 01.04.2016, s. 11 benefit cannot be denied to business activities carried by the trust in the course of actual carrying out of such advancement of any other object of general public utility. Trusts are entitled to carry out activities in the nature of trade, commerce or business etc as long as these activities are carried out in the course of actual carrying out of advancement of any other object of general public utility. On facts, activity of auctioning commercial plots for maximum revenue cannot be regarded as a profit-making exercise

This substitution of proviso to Section 2(15) may be viewed as representing a paradigm shift in the scope of the exclusion clause. The paradigm shift is this. So far as the scope of earlier provisos is concerned, the CBDT itself has, dealing with an assessee pursing “the advancement of any object of general pubic utility”, observed that “If such assessee is engaged in any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business or renders any service in connection to trade, commerce or business, it would not be entitled to claim that its object is for charitable purposes” because “In such a case, the object of ‘general public utility’ will only be a mask or a device to hide the true purpose which is trade, commerce, or business or rendering of any service in relation to trade, commerce or business.” The advancement of any objects of general public utility and engagement in trade, commerce and business etc. were thus seen as mutually exclusive in the sense that either the assessee was pursuing the objects of general public utility or pursuing trade, commerce or business etc. in the garb of pursing the objects of general public utility

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DATE: September 4, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 12, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2008-09
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CITATION:
S. 271(1)(c): Failure to apply s. 50C and offer capital gains as per the stamp value does not constitute concealment/ furnishing of inaccurate particulars of income for levy of penalty u/s 271(1)(c)

For application of section 50C of the Act, it is not necessary for the A.O. to examine whether actually assessee has received anything over and above the amount mentioned in the sale deed as he simply has to go by the valuation adopted by the SRO. However, as far as imposition of penalty is concerned, there must be positive evidence before the A.O. to conclude that assessee has received the amount as valued by SRO for stamp duty purpose. Unless there are positive evidence to indicate receipt of on money to the extent of valuation made by SRO by the assessee, penalty under section 271(1)(c) cannot be imposed

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DATE: September 4, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 11, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: -
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CITATION:
S. 54EC: If REC Bonds are not available during the prescribed period, time for investment has to be extended. Fact that NHAI Bonds were available is irrelevant. Amount paid to sisters as per family arrangement for permitting transfer of property is decutible u/s 49(1)

The bonds were admittedly not available during the said period. The fact that the Bonds issued by the National Highway Authority of India were available and hence the assessee ought to have invested in those bonds within the stipulated period of six months is not acceptable. Section 54EC gives assessee an option to invest either in bonds of National Highway Authority of India or then in bonds of Rural Electrification Corporation Limited. The said provision does not stipulate that the investment has to be in any bond whichever is available. Both bonds carry different benefits and hence deliberately the Parliament has given option to the assessee to invest in any one out of two as per his choice. In a given case, the assessee may choose to invest in both. However, discretion is conferred upon the assessee, who is the best judge of his own needs and interests. He cannot be forced to invest in the bond whichever is available because period of six months is about to expire. This option or discretion given by the Parliament to the assessee needs to be honoured here. If said option was available when period of six months was to expire and could have been expressed by the assessee when said period was about to expire, the situation would have been otherwise

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DATE: August 19, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 11, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2007-08
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CITATION:
S. 153A/ 153D: Approval to the assessment order granted by the Addl. CIT in a casual and mechanical manner and without application of mind renders the assessment order void

The Legislative intent is clear inasmuch as prior to the insertion of Sec.153D, there was no provision for taking approval in cases of assessment and reassessment in cases where search has been conducted. Thus, the legislature wanted the assessments/reassessments of search and seizure cases should be made with the prior approval of superior authorities which also means that the superior authorities should apply their minds on the materials on the basis of which the officer is making the assessment and after due application of mind and on the basis of seized materials, the superior authorities have to approve the assessment order. The Addl Commissioner/Joint Commissioner is required to apply his mind to the proposals put up to him for approval in the light of the material relied upon by the AO. The said power cannot be exercised casually and in a routine manner.

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DATE: August 31, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 11, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2006-07
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CITATION:
S. 10(10D): Keyman Insurance: Even a "United Linked Endowment Assurance Plan" with the main object of guaranteed returns rather than life insurance is a "keyman insurance" as defined in s. 10(10D). The fact that policy was not termed as a "keyman insurance" and the fact that the IRDA Guidelines disapproved the issue of such policies is irrelevant

All that is required for an insurance policy to meet the requirements of Section 10(10D), therefore, has to be – (a) it should be a life insurance policy; (b) it should be taken by the assesse on the life of another person who is, or was, an employee of the assesse or is related to the business of the assesse is any manner. As long as a policy is an insurance policy, whether it involves a capital appreciation or is under any other investment scheme, it meets the tests laid down under section 10(10D). Even if such an inference is desirable, as long as it does not emerge from the plain words of the statute, it cannot be open to supply the same. The concepts of term policy, pure life policy and the IRDA guidelines find no mention in the statutory provisions. But even if these concepts ought to be incorporated in this statutory provision of the Income Tax Act to make it more meaningful and workable, it cannot be open to any judicial forum to supply these omissions. The IRDA guidelines, no matter how relevant as these guidelines may be, have no role to play in the interpretation of the statutory provisions. The fact that the insurance policies in question were not termed as keyman insurance policies is irrelevant. The keyman insurance policy is a defined concept and as long as it meets the requirements of this definition, the terminology given by the insurers have no relevance for the purposes of the Income Tax Act.

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DATE: September 2, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 9, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2004-05
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CITATION:
No disallowance u/s 14A can be made in a year in which no exempt income has been earned or received by the assessee. S. 14A also does not apply to shares bought for strategic purposes

The expression “does not form part of the total income” in Section 14A of the envisages that there should be an actual receipt of income, which is not includible in the total income, during the relevant previous year for the purpose of disallowing any expenditure incurred in relation to the said income. In other words, Section 14A will not apply if no exempt income is received or receivable during the relevant previous year

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DATE: July 31, 2015 (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: September 9, 2015 (Date of publication)
AY: 2009-10, 2010-11
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CITATION:
S. 29/37(1): Loss on account of forward contract entered into by the assessee to hedge against the loss arising on account of fluctuations in foreign exchange is an allowable deduction. Contrary view in Vinod Kumar Diamonds is not good law

The assessee was exposed to the risk arising in fluctuation out of exchange rate and as a prudent business man it would like to hedge its risk. Accordingly, the assessee had booked the forward contracts and utilised the same during the year or in the succeeding years. The pattern of the assessee reflected that it entered into forward contracts during the normal course of business and utilised the same for business allowing them to run upto the date of contract. The assessee was engaged in the export of diamonds and the forwards contract was entered into in respect of foreign exchange to be received as a result of export and the same was done to avoid the risk of loss due to foreign exchange fluctuations. The claim has to allowed after taking note of the claim of forward contracts and the accounting policies, i.e. AS-11 (revised) and applying the ratio laid down by the Apex Court in the case of CIT vs. Woodward Governor India Pvt. Ltd. 294 ITR 451 (SC)

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