Banerji, J. - (1.) In this reference under Section 66(1) of the Indian I.T. Act, 1922, relating to the assessment year 1955-56, for which the accounting year ended on 31st March, 1955, the Tribunal has referred the following question : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the sum of Rs. 43,288, being the amount of under-charges out of the unclaimed credit balances written off during the previous year was liable to be included in the assessee's total income for the assessment year 1955-56 ?"
(2.) The facts found and/or admitted are shortly as follows.
(3.) In the assessment year in question, the assessee claimed that a sum of Rs. 49,217 representing unclaimed credit balance written off during the year should not be treated as revenue receipt. Rs. 43,288 out of the said unclaimed credit balance represented under-charges in respect of the freight for the under-loaded wagons, which the customers of the assessee had to pay under the Railway Rules, in spite of the fact that the wagons in question were not loaded to their full capacity by the collieries. The assessee claimed these under-charges from the collieries. The same was passed on by the assessee to the customers who made claims in this behalf from the assessee. The ITO found that such under-charges were not credited to the account of the individual customers and held that the same represented the trading receipts of the assessee and were liable to tax. In coming to the above conclusion the ITO relied on the findings of the AAC in the appeals against assessments of the assessee for the assessment years 1953-54 and 1954-55, where a similar question arose for consideration.;