Ajoy Nath Ray, J. - (1.) In this writ application, the petitioner prays for an appropriate amount of interest upon an admittedly refundable amount of tax above Rs. 26 lakhs.
(2.) The year concerned is the accounting year ending September 30, 1987. For such accounting year, if advance tax had been paid by an ordinary assessee, paying it from his own account prior to assessment, it is not in dispute that 15 per cent. would be payable on the excess tax paid from April 1, 1988, until payment. This clearly follows from Section 214 of the Income-tax Act.
(3.) The question of rate and payment of interest formed the subject-matter of later further legislation and Section 244A has now been inserted with effect from April 1, 1989. Since I do not want to dwell upon Section 244A any more hereafter, it is my opinion that the treatment there at par of advance tax paid and of tax treated as paid in regard to deductions at source, is not modificatory but merely declaratory of the law, for, as will be clear from what is stated hereafter, a whole and correct reading of the Act shows that they were already at par, for purposes like those mentioned in Section 214.;