( 1 ) BY this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner seeks following reliefs:[a] This Honble Court be pleased to call for the proceedings of the case, look into them and be pleased to issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, quashing the order of the respondent, at Exhibit D whereby he rejected the application of the petitioner to grant the interest of Rs. 36,31,500/- on payment of Rs. 54,00,000/- made on 23rd June 1988; [b] This Honble Court be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ or order or direction, asking the respondent to pay the above interest of Rs. 36,31,500/-; [c] This Honble Court be pleased to ask the respondent to pay the interest on the above interest in accordance with the decision of the Gujarat High Court in D. J. Works v. Dy. CIT, 195 ITR 227; [d] If this Honble Court is pleased to hold that on interpretation of Section 214, the petitioner is not entitled to interest under Section 214 in full, then this Honble Court be pleased to declare that, that part of section 214 which restricts the payment of interest only on the payment made in the financial year is ultra vires the Constitution of India and, therefore, such restriction is bad in law; [e] Pending the hearing and final disposal of this application, this Honble Court be pleased to ask the respondent to pay forthwith the amount of Rs. 36,31,500/- on execution of an undertaking to return the said moneys forthwith if the final outcome of this application is against the petitioner. [f] This Honble Court be pleased to grant such further or other relief as the interest of justice demands in the matter. [g] This Honble Court be pleased to allow this petition with cost against the respondents.

( 2 ) THE controversy involved in the present petition pertains to Assessment Year 1988-89. The petitioner is a Public Limited Company. In relation to the said assessment year, the petitioner had submitted a `nil estimate of advance tax under Section 210 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) on 11th September, 1987. Subsequently, on 15th March 1988, the assessee submitted revised estimate of income of Rs. 2,10,00,000/- and paid advance tax of Rs. 92,90,000/- thereon. Thereafter, on 28th March 1988, the petitioner submitted another revised estimate of income of Rs. 3,43,50,000/- and paid the differential amount of advance tax to the tune of Rs. 70,08,750/ -. In all, in the financial year 1987-88, the petitioner had paid Rs. 1,62,98,750/- towards advance tax. Subsequently, on 23rd June 1988, the petitioner paid further tax of Rs. 54,00,000/-, making a total of Rs. 2,16,98,750/ -.

( 3 ) THE assessing officer framed assessment under Section 143 (3) of the Act on 30th January 1991 computing refund at Rs. 79,265/ -. The petitioner carried the matter in appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) [cit (Appeals)]. Consequent to the order of the CIT (Appeals), the petitioner became entitled to a further refund of Rs. 2,31,57,382/- which was paid to the petitioner. The petitioner was also paid interest under section 214 of the Act on the amount of Rs. 1,62,98,750/- paid towards advance tax in the financial year for the period between 1st July 1988 to 25th September 1992, i. e. the date on which the petitioner got the refund. However, in respect of the amount of Rs. 54,00,000/- paid on 23rd June 1988 i. e. after the financial year, no interest had been paid. Therefore, the petitioner made an application dated 5th January 1993 for grant of interest on the sum of Rs. 54,00,000/- under the provisions of Section 214/244a of the Act.

( 4 ) BY an order dated 18th February 1993, the aforesaid application was rejected. In the said order, it was recorded that the Commissioner of Income Tax, Surat was in agreement with the view taken by the respondent No. 1.

( 5 ) THE petitioner preferred an application before the Central Board of Direct Taxes (the Board), stating that it was entit