Judgment

R.C. Lahoti, J.-This is a batch of eight matters before this Court. The routes through which the different matters travelled up to the High Court were differnt. Some were reference applications under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and some were writ peti­tions filed before the High Court. All the matters have stood disposed of consistently with the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the leading judgment which is reported as V.V. Trans-Investments (P) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax1 and also impugned herein. In all the matters the question arising for decision is in substance only one : whether the term ‘loss’ as appear­ing in Section 205(1), first proviso, clause (b) of the Companies Act, 1956 read with Section 115J of the Income-tax Act, 1961 means “includ­ing depreciation”.

2. In order to appreciate the bone of contention it would suffice to state the facts relevant to one of the assessee’s namely M/s. V.V. Trans-Investments (P) Ltd. Hyderabad, a private limited company. The figures of net profit and loss as per the profit and loss account of the company were as follows :

Assessment profit/ Depreciation