O.CHINNAPPA REDDY,J. - (1.) THE assessee is a company carrying on business in the manufacture and sale of insulated copper and aluminium wire, known as "winding wire". The company claims certain benefits on the basis that it is engaged in a priority industry within the meaning of Sections 33 (1) (iii) (c) (A) and 80e read with item No. 7 of the 5th Schedule to the Income-tax Act, 1961. Item No. 7 of the 5th Schedule to the Income-tax Act runs as follows : "equipment for the generation and transmission of electricity including transformers, cables and transmission towers. "
(2.) FOR the assessment years 1964-65 and 1965-66, it was decided by the Tribunal that the assessee was entitled to the benefits claimed on the ground that the assessee was engaged in the manufacture of aluminium cables which were used in transmission of electricity and was, according to the Tribunal, obviously entitled to the benefits of the 5th Schedule. The department did not take up the matter further by seeking a reference to the High Court. However, for the subsequent years, the Income-tax Officer probed further into the matter and on finding from the accounts of the assessee that the winding wires manufactured by the assessee were used by manufacturers of fans and other electrical gadgets as raw material for their finished products, he held that the assessee's industry was not entitled to be treated as a "priority industry". The appeals preferred by the assessee to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner were rejected. The further appeals preferred by the assessee to the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal were, however, allowed. The Tribunal held that though the decision of the Tribunal in the assessments relating to previous years did not operate as res judicata, such decision was a relevant consideration to be taken into account. The Tribunal further held that the winding wires manufactured by the assessee came within the description of aluminium cables and that the description given to them and the use to which they were put by the purchasers were irrelevant. The department now seeks a direction to the Tribunal to state a case and refer the following question to this court: "whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessee-company was entitled to the benefits conferred by the provisions of Sections 33 (1) (iii) (c) (A) and 80e of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ?" The learned counsel for the respondent opposes the application and urges that no question of law is involved as no new facts have been brought out. The Income-tax Officer has referred to considerable new material and we think that this is a fit case for us to direct the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal to state a case and refer the question propounded to us for our decision. It is ordered accordingly. No costs.;