RUDRA AND CO Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL the petitioners in this batch of writ petitions are liquor licence-holders ; they purchase country liquor from Government distilleries and sell the same to retail shops which cater to the demands of individual consumers. In each of these petitions, a writ of mandamus is sought against the respondents-income-tax authorities, not to collect the income-tax at source and consequently refund the tax collected under Section 206C of the Income-tax Act.

(2.) ON behalf of the petitioners it is contended that the Division Bench of this court in Gian Chand Ashok Kumar and Co. v. Union of India [1991] 187 ITR 188, declared that L-13 licensees fell within the purview of Section 44AC, therefore, the tax at source in so far as the purchases made by them were concerned, should not be deducted and that judgment applies on all fours to the present petitioners.

(3.) AFTER examining the nature of the trade, the source of purchase, the obligation of the petitioners to sell the liquor at the rates specified under the statute, the Division Bench concluded that the petitioners came within the purview of the proviso and, therefore, the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 44AC do not apply to them.