P. VISHWANATHA SHETTY, J.

( 1 ) THE assessee is a public limited company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956. It is engaged in the manufacture of wines and spirits. The assessment year involved in this reference is 1982-83. The assessee had filed a nil estimate of advance surtax on 12th June, 1981. While completing the assessment, the AO charged interest under Section 7c of the Companies (Profits) Surtax Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') among other things in all a sum of rs. 96,54,202. Aggrieved by the order made by the AO levying interest as stated above, the assessee filed an appeal before the CIT (A ). The appellate authority sustained the levy of interest. The second appeal filed by the assessee before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') was also unsuccessful. Under these circumstances, as noticed by us earlier, on the application filed by the assessee, the Tribunal has under Section 256 (1) of the IT Act, 1961 referred the questions set out hereinbelow for our opinion: (i) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in upholding the levy of interest under Section 7

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