High Court Of Gujarat
CIT vs. Narendra R. Oza
Sections 80U
R.K. Abichandani & K.A. Puj, JJ.
IT Ref. No. 117 of 1987
8th January, 2002
Counsel Appeared
Manish R. Bhatt, for the Petitioner : V.J. Desai, for the Respondent
JUDGMENT
R.K. ABICHANDANI, J. :
The Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench ‘B’, has referred the following question for the opinion of this Court : “Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessee is entitled to in law to the relief under s. 80U of the IT Act, 1961 ?”
The assessee has claimed relief under s. 80U of the IT Act, 1961, under which, in the case of physically handicapped persons, deduction of a sum of Rs. 10,000 was permissible at the relevant time. The ITO rejected the claim, but the AAC allowed the same. The Tribunal, following the decision of Indore Bench in the case of Anand Prakash Saksena vs. ITO (1983) 3 ITD 152 (Ind) and the decision rendered by it in Bhagwatiprasad P. Parikh, held that the assessee was entitled to the deduction under s. 80U of the said Act and confirmed the order of the AAC.
It is pointed out to us that Bhagwatiprasad P. Parikh’s case (supra) was taken to the High Court and by decision of this Court in CIT vs. Bhagwatiprasad P. Parikh (1999) 153 CTR (Guj) 13 : (1999) 239 ITR 645 (Guj), it was held that the fact that the person has a substantial income by itself cannot be a criteria for determining whether the disease or the disability with which the person is suffering has resulted in reducing his capacity to gainful employment. In the present case, there is no dispute over the fact that the assessee suffered from deafness to the extent that he could not hear from a distance of 2-3 feet even with the help of a hearing-aid. Following the ratio of the decision in CIT vs. Bhagwatiprasad P. Parikh (supra), we hold that the assessee was entitled in law to the relief under s. 80U of the said Act. The question referred to us is, therefore, answered in affirmative in favour of the assessee. The reference stands disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs.
[Citation : 257 ITR 466]
