JUDGMENT:

J.M. PANCHAL, J.

1. These appeals are directed against Judgments dated July 23, 2001 rendered by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Income Tax Appeal No. 591/2001 and 592/2002 whereby the opinion expressed by the Assessing Officer and confirmed by Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) Mumbai as well as the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Mumbai Bench B, Mumbai that the gross total income must be determined by setting off against the income, the business losses of the earlier years, before allowing deduction under Chapter VI-A and if the resultant income is Nil, then the assessee cannot claim deduction under Chapter VI-A of the Income Tax Act, 1948 (The Act for short), is upheld.

2. Since all the appeals raise common questions of law and fact, this Court proposes to dispose them of by this common Judgment.

3. The facts emerging from the record of the case are as under:-

The appellant-assessee is a Company incorporated under the provisions of the Indian Companies Act, 1956. It is engaged in the business of oil and chemicals. It has a unit for oil division at Sirohi District, Rajasthan. It has also a chemical division at Jodhpur. The appellant had earned profit in the assessment year 1990-91 and 1991-92 in both the units. However, the appellant had suffered losses in the oil division in earlier years. The appellant claimed deductions under Section 80HH and 80-I of the Act, claiming that each unit should be treated separately and the loss suffered by the oil division in earlier years is not adjustable against the profits of the chemical division while considering the question whether deductions under Sections 80HH and 80-I were allowable. The Assessing Officer noticed that the gross total income of the appellant before deductions under Chapter VI-A was Nil. Therefore, he concluded that the assessee was not entitled to the benefit of deductions under Chapter VI-A. Feeling aggrieved the appellant carried the matters in appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) V, Mumbai who confirmed the view of the Assessing Officer by dismissing the same. Therefore, the appellant preferred two appeals before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Mumbai Bench B, Mumbai. The Tribunal held that gross total income of the appellant had got to be computed in accordance with the Act before allowing deductions under any Section falling under Chapter VI-A and as the gross total income of the appellant after setting off the business losses of the earlier years, was Nil, the appellant was not entitled to any deductions either under Section 80HH or 80-I of the Act. In that view of the matter the Tribunal dismissed the appeals filed by the appellant. Thereupon, the appellant invoked jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 260-A of the Act by filing these appeals. The High Court has dismissed the same by Judgment dated July 23, 2001 giving rise to the instant appeals.

4. This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and in great detail. This Court has also considered the documents forming part of the appeals.

5. The plea that the appellant had earned profits from the two divisions during the assessment years in question and therefore losses suffered by the oil division in earlier years could not have been adjusted against the profits of the two divisions while considering the question of grant of deduction under Sections 80-I of the Act, cannot be accepted.

6. In order to resolve the controversy raised by the appellant, it would be advantageous to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act:-

"Section 80A. (1) In computing the total income of an assessee, there shall be allowed from his gross total income, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this Chapter; the deductions specified in Sections 80C to [80U].

(2) The aggregate amount of the deductions under this Chapter shall not, in any case, exceed the gross total income of the assessee.

[(3) Where, in computing total income of an