Per Dr. B.P. Saraf, Chief Justice

By this reference under section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("Act"), at the instance of the revenue, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Amritsar Bench, Amritsar ("Tribunal") has referred the following common question of law, arising out of its consolidated order of the Tribunal dated 4th May, 1988 in appeals of two different Trusts, to this Court for opinion:

"Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is right in law in holding that assessee-Trusts, which failed to exercise the option under clause (2) of section 11(2) within the stipulated period, is entitled to the benefit u/s 11 (1) in respect of unutilised portion of income?"

The two trusts are Ziarat Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, Srinagar and Ziarat Syed Hassan Mantaqi, Srinagar. Both these trusts are Muslim religious trusts formed prior to 1947.

2. The material facts of the case of Ziarat Mir Syed Ali Hamdani Trust are as follows. This Trust filed its return of income for the assessment year 1979-80 along with returns for the assessment years 1978-79,1980-81 and 1981-82 on 17.3.1983. In the income and expenditure account for the previous year relevant to the assessment year

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