R.M. Sahai, J.

1. THE following question has been referred by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad (shortly called "the Tribunal"), for the opinion of this court:

"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal could direct the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to give his decision on the additional ground which had been taken before him in the appeals for 1964-65 and 1965-66 that the Income-tax Officer has erred in charging penal interest under Section 215 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ?"

2. THE facts giving rise to this reference are these. The assessee filed an appeal against the assessment order and disputed certain additions and disallowance made by the Income-tax Officer. At the time of hearing of the appeal an additional ground was raised on behalf of the assessee. That ground was that the Income-tax Officer erred on facts and in law in charging penal interest under Section 215 for filing a low estimate of the advance tax. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner did not consider this new ground as in his opinion no appeal is provided under Section 246 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, against an order passed under Section 215. He, however, allow