COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. RAMLAL CHIRANJILAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AT the instance of the Commissioner of Income-tax, Bhopal, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Indore, has stated the case and referred the undernoted question of law under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act"), for our opinion :

(2.) THE facts lie in a narrow compass.

(3.) THE legal position is not in tenebrosity. In P. Venkata Krishnayya Naidu and Son v. CIT [1984] 150 ITR 545 (AP), the High Court of Andhra Pradesh expressed the view that if advance tax paid is in excess of the tax payable on total income, the assessee is not liable to pay the penalty under Section 271(1)(a) of the Act. In CIT v. Mushara Tad Estate [1981] 130 ITR 955 (Gauhati), the Gauhati High Court took the view that if the tax paid in advance is more than the lax payable, then levy of penalty is not valid. In Addl. CIT v. Murugan Timber Depot [1978] 113 ITR 99 (Mad), the High Court of Madras held that if no tax is found payable by the assessee, then there will be no occasion to impose penalty.