SUJATA MANOHAR, J. - (1.) BOTH these references pertain to the same assessee company. The assessee company carried on the business, inter alia, of manufacture and sale of heavy duty cranes. It claimed relief under s. 80 I of the IT Act, 1961, in respect of profits arising, inter alia, from its manufacturing activity of making heavy duty cranes. For the asst. year 1972 73, which is the subject matter of IT Ref. No. 127 of 1977, the claim of the assessee for relief under S. 80 I was disallowed by the ITO. In appeal, however, the AAC allowed the claim of the assessee. In doing so, he differed from the view taken by the AAC in the assessee's case for the preceding asst. year 1971 72. The Tribunal had upheld the claim of the assessee. The Department has, therefore, come by way of a reference before us under S. 256(1) of the IT Act,1961, in IT Ref. No. 127 of 1977.
(2.) IN IT Ref. No. 587 of 1976, which pertains to the asst. year 1971 72, the claim of the assessee for the benefit under S. 80 I in relation to the profits earned by it from manufacture and sale of heavy duty cranes has been disallowed by the ITO, the AAC and the Tribunal. Hence, the assessee company has come before us by way of reference under S. 256(1) of the IT Act, 1961. The question which remains for consideration in both these references is : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessee company's activity of manufacture of heavy duty cranes is a priority industry within the Sixth Schedule to the IT Act, 1961, entitling it to deduction under S. 80 I of the IT Act, 1961 ?" This is the question in IT Ref. No. 587 of 1976. The same question, though differently worded, is raised in IT Ref. No. 127 of 1977.
(3.) IT is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the IT Act, as then in force for the purposes of deciding this question. Under S. 80B(7) as then in force, "priority industry" was defined to mean, inter alia, "the business of .... manufacture or production of any one or more of the articles or things specified in the list in the Sixth Schedule ....";