COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. QUALITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS reference under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, is at the instance of the Revenue. The questions of law referred to this court for its opinion are as follows :

(2.) THE material facts are as follows :

(3.) THE full text of the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court is not before us. We do not, thus, know as to what were the facts of that case and the rationale in coming to that conclusion. Even if it be assumed that the Andhra Pradesh High Court had held that such an opportunity was a pre-condition or pre-requisite of levy of interest, merely because special leave petition challenging the said decision was rejected by the Supreme Court it cannot be said that the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court was approved by the Supreme Court on the merits. As the Supreme Court has clarified, the summary rejection of the special leave petition without any speaking order merely means that the Supreme Court was not inclined to interfere with the order of the High Court and nothing more than that. In this view of the matter, it is not possible for us to accept the judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court as having been approved by the Supreme Court on the merits and follow the same.