Law:

Section:

Section 273A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Penalty - Reduction or waiver of - Assessment years 1976-77 to 1986-87 - Assessee filed a single petition under section 273A seeking waiver of interest and penalties with regard to several assessment years - Commissioner, however, granted relief only for two assessment years - Whether since Commissioner, as a one time measure, can grant relief of waiver of interest and penalties with regard to any number of assessment years, he ought to have granted relief for all assessment years and not restricted to only two assessment years - Held, yes FACTS For the assessment years 1976-77 to 1986-87, the assessee filed a petition before the Commissioner seeking waiver of interest and penalties as per the provisions of section 273A. The Commissioner, however, granted relief only for the assessment years 1980-81 and 1981-82 and declined to grant relief for all other assessment years, by merely mentioning that the conditions for waiver were not satisfied for other assessment years. On appeal : HELD A bare reading of the provisions of section 273A(3) makes it abundantly clear that the Commissioner as a one time measure can grant relief with regard to any number of assessment years. But once such a relief is granted, thereafter the Commissioner cannot grant any further reliefs for other assessment years. In the said provision, the relevant words are "such order relates to one or more assessment years". Therefore, the Commissioner is entitled to grant the relief with regard to penalty and interest as a one time measure, but not subsequently. In the instant case, there was one application for several assessment years, hence, the Commissioner ought to have granted relief for all assessment years and not restricted to only two assessment years. [Para 4] It was, therefore, to be held that the assessee was entitled to waiver of interest and penalty for the assessment years 1982-83 to 1986-87. [Para 5] Note : The case was decided in favour of assessee. S.D. Puri for the Petitioner. Dr. P. Daniel and G. Hariharan for the Respondent. JUDGMENT In the above, the petitioner had filed a petition dated April 2, 1987, before the Commissioner of…

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