Month: December 2009

Archive for December, 2009


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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 25, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The argument that the disclosure of assessment records under RTI would lead to unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual also does not apply for two reasons. Firstly, the information has been provided by the assessee to meet his legal obligations and the disclosure of the same to another person cannot be construed as being an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual. The Citizen’s right to Information should be given greater primacy than privacy. Information provided by individuals in fulfillment of statutory requirements is not covered by the exemption u/s 8 (1) (j). Secondly, as there has been large evasion of taxes by the group, if citizens monitor assessments through RTI, it could be a major gain for public revenue and perhaps a good check on corrupt officials.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 22, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

In a SLP filed against the judgement of the Karnataka High Court in CIT vs. Samsung Electronics, the Supreme Court, by an ad-interim order dated 18.12.2009 directed issue of notice to the Respondents and also directed “Stay of recovery till further orders”.

COURT:
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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 18, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The assessee – society and its members had no right to construct additional floors on the existing building as they had exhausted the right available while constructing the flats in the building. The TDR was not obtained by the assessee and sold to the developer. Accordingly, the assessee had not transferred any existing right to the developer nor any cost was incurred / suffered prior to permitting the developer to construct the additional floors. In the absence of a cost of acquisition, the judgement in B. C. Srinivasa Setty 128 ITR 294 (SC) applied and the consideration was not assessable as capital gains.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 18, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The RBI was not justified in granting permission to the foreign law firms to open liaison offices in India u/s 29 of FERA. Further, the foreign law firms were not entitled to practise in non litigious matters in India without following the provisions of the Advocates Act.

COURT:
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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 18, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

Though as per s. 32(1) the asset is to be owned and “used” for the purpose of business or profession, the expression “used for the purpose of business” when applied to block asset would mean use of block asset and not any specific items in the said block as individual assets have lost their identity after becoming inseparable part of the block asset for purposes of depreciation.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 16, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The effect of the judgements of the Supreme Court in Apollo Tyres and HCL Comnet is that if the accounts are prepared as per Schedule VI to the Companies Act, the AO has no jurisdiction to make adjustments to the “book profits” other than what was provided in the Explanation to s. 115JB. There is no scope for excluding non-taxable profits from the “book profits” as s. 54EC is not specified in the Explanation.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 15, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

In Apollo Tyres Ltd 265 ITR 273 and Kinetic Motor Co. Ltd 262 ITR 340 it was held that if the accounts were prepared in accordance with Schedule VI, the AO had no jurisdiction to make adjustments beyond what was provided in s. 115JB. However, as the assessee had bypassed the provisions of Schedule VI and directly credited the capital profit to the reserve account, these judgements did not apply and the AO had the power to rework the book profit.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 12, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

Though the Rule conferring power on the Tribunal has been struck down, one cannot altogether lose sight of the rule that every court or tribunal has an inherent power to dismiss a proceeding for non prosecution when the petitioner/appellant before it does not wish to prosecute the proceeding. In such a situation, unless the statute clearly requires the court or tribunal to hear the appeal / proceeding and decide it on merits it can dismiss the appeal / proceeding for. The power must be exercised judiciously and taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 10, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The word “production” is wider in its scope than the word “manufacture”. It means manufacture plus something in addition thereto. This ground reality is now noted in s. 2(29BA) inserted by Finance Act, 2009 w.e.f 1.4.2009. In Lucky Minmat 245 ITR 830 (SC), it was held that mere mining of limestone and marble and cutting the same before it was sold will not constitute “manufacture” or “production” but conversion into lime and lime dust could constitute the activity of manufacturing or production. In Aman Marble Industries 157 ELT 393 (SC) it was held that cutting of marble blocks into marble slabs was not “manufacture” but the Court was not concerned whether there was “production”.

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DATE: (Date of pronouncement)
DATE: December 9, 2009 (Date of publication)
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CITATION:

The Applicant’s case falls within s. 44BB because the words in connection with therein have an expansive meaning. The services provided by the Applicant have a real, intimate and proximate nexus with the prospecting for or extraction of mineral oils. The seismic survey and data acquisition is a prelude and critical component of the oil and gas exploration activity. Without seismic data acquisition and interpretation, it is impracticable to carry out the activity of prospecting which is a step in aid to exploration.