- (1.) At the instance of the Commissioner, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, has under Section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act"), referred the following question for the opinion of this court : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessee was entitled to deduction of ,Rs. 79,300 on account of contribution to the employees' gratuity fund even though the gratuity fund was not approved by the Commissioner of Income-tax as required under the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the assessment year 1974-75 ?"
(2.) We have heard Sri Shekhar Srivastava, learned standing counsel for the Commissioner and Sri Bharatji Agarwal, learned counsel for the assessee-respondent.
(3.) The proceedings relate to the assessment year 1974-75, the accounting period for which had ended on September 30, 1973. The assessee had claimed a deduction of Rs. 75,930 as an expenditure representing its contribution to the employees' gratuity fund. The Income-tax Officer disallowed the same as had been done in the past. The matter ultimately reached the Tribunal which, following its own order passed in the appeal for the assessment year 1972-73, deleted the disallowance. In its order, the Tribunal reproduced the relevant portion of its order for the assessment year 1972-73, which reads as under : "We shall first take up the appeal against the income-tax assessment-order. The first ground is against disallowance of Rs. 76,930 as an allowable deduction from the income of the assessee being contribution of the assessee to the employees' gratuity fund. In the opinion of the Income-tax Officer, the claim was inadmissible and he added back this amount in the income. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner on the other hand, following the decision of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal in the assessee's own case in I. T. A. No. 2341 of 1967-68, deleted the disallowance. That appeal related to the assessment for the assessment year 1964-65. In the appeals for the assessment years 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70, this question again came up before the Appellate Tribunal in the Department's appeal I. T. A. Nos. 647, 1360 and 1361/(All) of 1972-73, which was decided by order dated September 20, 1974. A copy of that order has been filed by the assessee. One of us was a party to that order, the earlier decision was followed and it was held that the contribution made by the assessee to the employees' gratuity fund was an allowable deduction from the income of the years concerned. In the present appeal as well we take the same view and agree with the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.";