JUDGMENT :

R.K. Patra, J. - On being moved u/s 256(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, by the assessee, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has referred the following questions of law arising out of its order dated July 26, 1993, in I. T. A. No. 404/CTK of 1989 for our opinion :

"(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in law in holding that the secret commission paid by the assessee amounting to Rs. 1,14,450 was not an allowable deduction u/s 37(1) of the Income Tax Act ?

(2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the finding of the Tribunal that the secret commission paid by the assessee in order to procure business was based on relevant evidence, or has been arrived at by ignoring or misreading relevant evidence or based on partly relevant and partly irrelevant evidence or otherwise perverse, illogical and unreasonable ?"

2. As both the questions are interrelated, we have framed the question as follows :

"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in disallowing the secret commission alleged to have been paid by the assessee to persons whose names it could not disclose or evi