C.N. Ramachandran Nair, J.

The assessee is a trust assessable to tax under S.164 of the Income Tax Act. The assessment was completed under S.143(1) of the Act accepting the return by levying tax at 55% plus surcharge. The assessee made an application under S.154 of the Income Tax Act for rectification the assessment on the ground that the "maximum marginal rate" referred to in Explanation 2 to S.14(3) of the Act is not the maximum rate of tax applied by the assessing officer. The assessing officer rejected the application holding that there was no mistake in the rate applied and the tax computed. On first appeal, the first appellate authority held that the issue regarding interpretation of "maximum marginal rate" was a debatable issue and therefore no application for rectification was maintainable and hence he dismissed the appeal. On further appeal, the Tribunal allowed the assessee's case by holding that "maximum marginal rate" was to be computed after providing the slab rate of tax for the first Rs.1 lakh. The department has sought reference of the questions which are common for all the three assessment years, 1985-86,1986-87 and 1987-88, and the Tribunal has referred