- (1.) Leave granted in special leave petitions.
(2.) The short point which arises in this batch of civil appeals is whether interest earned by the assesses-banks on dated Government securities was liable to be assessed under Section 2(7) read with Section 4 of the Interest Tax Act, 1974. In our view, there is a basic difference between loans and advances on the one hand and investments/securities on the other. This difference is indicated in the provisions of the Income Tax Act, the Companies Act as well as the Banking Regulation Act. These aspects have been discussed in detail in two decisions of the Bombay High Court, namely, Discount and Finance House of India Ltd. v. S.K. Bhardwaj, CIT, 2003 259 ITR 295 , as also in another decision of the Bombay High Court reported in , in the case of CIT v. United Western Bank Ltd., 2003 259 ITR 312 It is not in dispute that the revenue has accepted the aforestated two judgments of the Bombay High Court. We are in agreement with the view expressed by the Bombay High Court.
(3.) For the aforestated reasons there is no merit in the civil appeals filed by the department. The same are dismissed. No order as to costs.;