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Sipping my favourite cup of ginger tea  in this sweet & pleasantly cold sunday afternoon, my memories are taking me back to 9 years ago, when I appeared before the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) for the first time. Our appointed Senior Counsel, has already taken 3 adjournments before & for this 4th time also he has informed us to take the adjournment. We were representing a big & reputed power distribution government discom, a CPSE, on the issue of MAT additions, and as a coercive recovery measure, the bank a/c of the discom with substantial funds was already seized by the Revenue Authorities. I was entrusted with the responsibility of seeking adjournment for this fourth time. Actually, I myself have prepared all the written submissions & the supporting paper book so was fully conversant & comfortable with the facts of the case & the legal jurisprudence. Still my job was to simply take an adjournment on that day, so I appeared before the Hon'ble Chairman of AAR, who is a retired Supreme Court judge always. When the hearing started, I furnished our adjournment application & politely requested for the adjournment. The hon'ble Chairman Judge Sir, cursorily went through the case file & within a flash of seconds thundered that already 3 adjournments were being granted earlier so no more adjournments will be granted. The only option given was to either argue the case or let it be adjudicated & decided upon based on the available records. God knows, what prompted me at that moment, but I confidently answered that I will argue the case. To this, the hon'ble Chairman Judge Sir, glanced at me & asked me, "Are You Sure Young Boy?" To this I confidently replied with a Yes, and went ahead with the arguements of the case. As I have myself prepared the Paper Book Submissions, I was comfortable & confident about the facts & legal propositions of the case, so I argued quite naturally & smoothly. My primary arguement was concerning the non-applicability of MAT provisions u/s 115JB to a power sector company, because the power sector companies are required to prepare their financial statements including the profit & loss a/c in a specified manner & format as stipulated by their Governing Act, The Electricity Regulation Act, and not in accordance with Schedule VI of the Companies Act. Also their Profit & Loss account is to be prepared in the manner as stipulated in the Electricity Regulation Act and not in accordance with Schedule VI of the Companies Act. But as per section 115JB(2), the book profits for the purpose of Computation of MAT are to be arrived at as per the P&L a/c prepared in accordance with the Companies Act. So I argued that as the Computation provisions i.e. the calculation of Book profit for MAT purpose was not possible for a Power Sector company, so the charging section will also fail to apply. I also contested the additions to Book Profits for MAT. The Hon'ble Chairman Judge Sir listened to all my arguements very patiently & carefully. The DR of the Income Tax Dept put forth his arguments from the department side. To my pleasant surprise, the Ruling came in our favour and also lead to an amendment in the Incometax Act itself thereby allowing the Power Sector Companies to compute their Book Profits for the purpose of MAT either on the basis of the Electricity Regulatory Act or as per the Companies Act.

In the meanwhile, I have finished my ginger tea now...so bye for the time being…

Next time probably a new anecdote over a cup of