Commissioner of Income Tax vs Harry Dennis Boughman

T.L. Viswanatha Iyer, J.—Exemption was granted to the respondents in respect of the allowance received by them at the rate of Rs. 150 per day u/s 10(14) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Commissioner (Appeals) held that the amount received by the respondents was only reimbursement of expenses and that it was only special allowance as envisaged u/s 10(14) of the Act. The Tribunal affirmed this finding. Nothing has been brought out to show that the amount received by the respondents at the rate of Rs. 150 per day was not allowance for the purpose of meeting their expenses. Nothing has been placed before us and none was placed before the Tribunal to displace the finding of fact entered by the Commissioner (Appeals) that the amount given was only a reimbursement of the expenses.

If this be the finding of fact, necessarily, the amount is liable to be exempted u/s 10(14). The contention raised by counsel for the Revenue based on the decision of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income Tax, Gujarat Vs. `Kharawalla Ltd., and of the Bombay High court in Sohanlal G. Sanghi Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Nagpur, that the account should be rendered or the actual amount spent before claiming the exemption u/s 10(14) does not appeal to us for the reason that the amount granted as allowance per day is only Rs. 150, which, we are of the view, could have been incurred by the assessees for meeting their expenses. In fact that was the finding of the Commissioner (Appeals) also.

There is, therefore, no referable question of law.

The original petitions are, therefore, dismissed.