( 1 ) THE Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (Delhi Bench a), has referred the following questions under Section 256 (2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (briefly, "the Act"), for the opinion of this court : " 1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was correct in holding that the Income-tax Officer had exercised his discretion in not charging interest under section 217 (1a) in the original assessment ?

( 2 ) WHETHER, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was correct in holding that interest under Section 217 (1a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, could not be charged by taking recourse to Section 154 ?" 2. The relevant assessment year is 1972-73. The assessee, a partnership firm, carried on the business of manufacture and sale of earth digging equipment and it also derived income from government contracts. During the financial year 1971-72, relevant to the assessment year 1972-73, the assessee was required to pay advance tax of Rs. 3,830 under Section 210 of the Act, which was computed on the basis of income of Rs. 55,640 for the assessment year 1970-71. On regular assessment, the total income of the assessee and the tax