R.Jayasimha Babu, J.

Question referred to us is 'whether the Tribunal was right in law in holding that the interest earned on short-term deposits of share application money by the assessee did not accrue to the assessee during the assessment year 1992-93'.

2. The assessee is a Public Limited Company which came out with a public issue of shares on 29.1.1992 and the issue was closed on 3.2.1992. The application money received by the company was deposited with collecting banks or the bankers of the company, to which the amounts were transferred, for 46 days. The interest earned on such deposits was sought to be taxed by the Assessing Officer as income for the assessment year 1992-93. The assessee's contention was that the application money which had been received from the applicants for the allotment of shares was required to be and was kept in a separate bank account as required by section 73(3) of the Companies Act and that the interest earned on those moneys could not have been treated as income accrued to the company even before the allotment process was completed. The allotment process was completed only in the following assessment year after receipt of approval for lis