Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
RELIANCE JUTE & INDUSTRIES LTD.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
C.I.T., WEST BENGAL, CALCUTTA
DATE OF JUDGMENT10/10/1979
BENCH:
PATHAK, R.S.
BENCH:
PATHAK, R.S.
UNTWALIA, N.L.
CITATION:
1980 AIR 251 1980 SCR (1) 906
1980 SCC (1) 139
ACT:
Indian Income Tax Act 1922_s. 24(2)(iii)-Assessee if
could claim vested right under the law as it stood before
amendment-Law to be applied is the law in relevant
assessment year.
HEADNOTE:
Section 24(2)(iii) of the Indian Income-Tax Act, 1922
as it stood in 1955 provided that a business loss which was
not wholly set off should be carried forward from year to
year. In consequence of an amendment to the section made in
1957 the carry forward of unabsorbed loss could not be
effected for more than eight years.
After setting off unabsorbed losses for the assessment
years 1949-50 and 1950-51 the Income Tax officer directed
that the loss remaining unabsorbed in the year 1950-51 be
carried forward.
The assessee’s plea that the unabsorbed loss of the
year 1950-51 should be set off against the business income
of the assessment year 1960.61 was rejected by the Income-
Tax officer on the ground that the unabsorbed loss of the
year 1950-51 could not be carried forward for more than
eight years.
The assessee was unsuccessful in appeal before the
Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Appellate Tribunal.
The High Court answered the reference against the Assessee.
In appeal to this Court it was contended that by virtue
of s. 24(2) (iii) of the Act, as it stood before its
amendment in 1957, the assessee had acquired a vested right
to have the unabsorbed loss carried forward from year to
year until it was completely set off and that the subsequent
amendment limiting the period to eight years could not
divest the assessee of the vested right already accrued to
him.
Dismissing the appeal,
^
HELD: The unabsorbed loss of the assessment year 1950-
51 could not be carried forward for more than eight years
and consequently could not be set off against the business
income of the assessment year 1960-61. [909 C]
1. (a) It is a cardinal principle of the tax law that
the law to be applied is that in force in the assessment
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year unless otherwise provided expressly or by necessary
implication right claimed by an assessee under the law in
force In a particular assessment year is ordinarily
available only in relation to a proceeding pertaining to
that years. [908 G, 909 B]
Commissioner of Income Tax, West Bengal v. Isthmian
Steamship Lines, (1951) 20 I.T.R. 572 and Karimtharuvi Tea
Estate Ltd. v. State of Kerala (1966 60 I.T.R. 262: referred
to.
907
(b) When an assessment for the assessment year 1960-61
was to be made A and s. 24(2) was invoked it was the section
in force as ill that assessment year which had to be
applied. There is no question of the assessee possessing any
vested right under the law as it stood before the amendment.
[908 H, 909 A-B]
2. The direction of the Appellate Assistant
Commissioner that the unabsorbed loss should be carried
forward have meaning only if the law in force in the
relevant assessment year permits the unabsorbed loss to be
carried forward into the assessment of that year the instant
case the Appellate Assistant Commissioner assumed that the
law permitted the unabsorbed loss to be carried forward into
future year. But that was not the law in the relevant
assessment year and therefore the assessee could derive no
advantage from that direction. [909 D-E]
Commissioner of Income Tax Kerala v. Helen Rubber
Industries Ltd. (1962) 44 I.T.R. 714, distinguished.
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 2366 of
1972.
From the Judgment and order dated 25-3-1971 of the
Calcutta High Court in Income Tax Ref. No. 120/69.
V. S. Deasi, S. R. Agarwal, Anil Sachthey, Praveen
Kumar and Miss Bina Gupta for the Appellant. T. A.
Ramachandran and Miss A. Subhashini for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
PATHAK, J: This appeal by certificate under section 66-
A(2) of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1922 raises a question
involving the interpretation of section 24(2) (iii) of that
Act.
The assessee is a company carrying on the business of
manufacturing jute goods. The case relates to the assessment
year 1960-61, for which the relevant accounting period is
the financial year ending Match 31, 1960.
While making the assessment for the assessment year
1959-60, the Income Tax officer set off the unabsorbed
business loss of Rs. 1,58,845 for 1949-50 and Rs. 5,70,952
for 1950-51 against the business income of that year and
directed that Rs. 15,50,189 representing the loss remaining
unabsorbed should be carried forward. In the assessment
proceeding for the assessment year 1960-61, with which we
are concerned, the assessee claimed that the unabsorbed loss
should be carried forward and set off against the business
income of the current year. The Income Tax officer rejected
the claim on the ground that the unabsorbed loss related to
1950-51 and could not be carried forward for more than eight
years. The assessee pressed the claim in appeal before the
Appellate Assistant Commissioner but without success. A
second appeal was dismissed by the Income Tax Appellate
Tribunal. At the instance of the assessee, the Appellate
908
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Tribunal referred the following question of law to the High
Court at Calcutta:-
"Whether, on the facts and circumstances of the
case, the assessee was entitled in law to set off
unabsorbed loss of Rs. 15,50,189 of the assessment year
1950-51 against the business income of the assessment
year 1960-61 ?"
The High Court answered the question in the negative.
In this appeal by the assessee it is contended that by
virtue of section 24(2) (iii) of the Indian Income Tax Act,
1922, as it stood before its amendment with effect from
April 1, 1957, the assessee had acquired a vested right to
have the unabsorbed loss carried forward from year to year
until it was completely set off and the subsequent amendment
limiting the period for carrying forward the loss to eight
years could not divest the assessee of the vested right
which had thus accrued to him. It is pointed out that the
amendment effected in 1957 is not retrospective in
operation. In our judgment, there is no substance in the
assesse’s claim.
Section 24(2) has suffered amendment a number of times.
Prior to its amendment by the Finance Act, 1955 it permitted
a business loss to be carried forward for not more than six
years, except in the case of losses pertaining to certain
assessment years ending with the assessment year 1943-44
where the period for carrying forward was shorter. Section
16 of the Finance Act, 1955 amended section 24(2), and as a
result of the amendment section 24(2) (iii) provided that a
businesss loss which was not wholly set off could be carried
forward from year to year. Thereafter, Finance (No. 2) Act
of 1957 amended s.24(2) (iii) with effect from April 1, 1957
and in consequence an unabsorbed loss could not now be
carried forward for more than eight years.
The assessee claims a vested right under section 24(2)
(iii), as it, stood before its amendment in 1957, to have
the unabsorbed loss of 1950-51 carried forward from year to
year until the loss is completely absorbed. The claim is
based on a misconception of the fundamental basis underlying
every income tax assessment. "It is a cardinal principle of
the tax law that the law to be applied is that in force in
the assessment year unless otherwise provided expressly or
by necessary implication." Commissioner of Income-Tax West
Bengal v. Isthmian Steamship Lines and Karimtharuvi Tea
Estate Ltd. v. State of Kerala on that principle, it is
abundantly clear that when an
909
assessment for the assessment year 1960-61 is to be made and
section 24(2) is invoked, it is s.24(2) as in force in that
assessment year which has to be applied.’ That is the
provision as amended by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1957. There
is no question of the assessee possessing any vested right
under the law as it stood before the amendment. The
assessment for one assessment year cannot, in the absence of
a contrary provision, be affected by the law in force in
another assessment year. A right claimed by an assessee
under the law in force in a particular assessment year is
ordinarily available only in relation to a proceeding
pertaining to that year. Therefore, inasmuch as the
provisions of section 24(2), as amended in 1957, govern the
assessment for the assessment year 1960-61, the High Court
is right in affirming that the unabsorbed loss of Rs.
15,50,189 of the assessment year 1950-Sl cannot be carried
forward for more than eight years, and consequently cannot
be set off against the business income of the assessment
year 1960-61.
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It is pointed out that the Appellate Assistant
Commissioner mentioned in his order for the assessment year
1959-60 that the unabsorbed loss of Rs. 15,50,189 should be
carried forward. That direction has meaning only if the law
in force in the assessment year 1960-61 permits the
unabsorbed loss to be carried forward into the assessment of
that year. The direction by the Appellate Assistant
Commissioner assumes that it the law permits the unabsorbed
loss to be carried forward into future years, but as we have
seen that is not the law and, therefore, the assessee can
derive no advantage from that direction.
The assessee relies on the judgment of this Court in
Commissioner of Income Tax Kerala v. Helen Rubber Industries
Ltd.(l) That was a case, however, where paragraph 3 of the
Taxation Laws (Removal of Difficulties) order, 1950 operated
to divide the previous years to which the provision of the
Travancore Income Tax Act, 1946 applied from those previous
years to which the provisions of the Indian Income Tax Act,
1922, brought into force in the State of Travancore in 1950,
would apply. It was because of the Removal of Difficulties
order that the Court held that since under the Travancore
Law the loss could be carried forward for two years only and
those two years ended be- fore the previous years for which
the Indian Income Tax Act began to apply, the benefit of the
period of six years under the Indian Income Tax Act would
not be available. The case is clearly distinguishable.
In the result, the appeal fails and is dismissed.
P.B.R. Appeal dismissed.
910