COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, (TDS), KOLKATA vs. MEDIA WORLDWIDE PVT. LTD.

OD-22 ITAT/193/2018 IA No.GA/2/2018 (Old No.GA/1462/2018) IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Special Jurisdiction (Income Tax) ORIGINAL SIDE COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (TDS), KOLKATA -Versus- MEDIA WORLDWIDE PVT. LTD. Appearance: Mr. Smarajit Roychowdhury, Adv. ...for the appellant. Mr. Ananda Sen, Adv. ...for the respondent. BEFORE: The Hon’ble JUSTICE T.S. SIVAGNANAM -And- The Hon’ble JUSTICE HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA Date : 17th December, 2021. The Court : This appeal filed by the revenue under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the ‘Act’ in brevity) is directed against the order dated 12th May, 2017 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” Bench, Kolkata (the ‘Tribunal’ in short) in ITA No.2057/Kol/2014 for the assessment year 2011-12. The revenue has framed the following substantial questions of law for consideration: (i) Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case the Learned Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” Bench, Kolkata was correct in holding that the services like carriage, uplinking, downlinking, broadband etc. were not

2 covered under specific Section 194J of the Income Tax Act, 1961 but were under more general Section 194C? (ii) Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case the Learned Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” Bench, Kolkata erred in law in holding that the provisions of Section 194C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 are applicable although the payments are not made by the assessee for any of the category of the work as defined in Section 194C of the Income Tax Act, 1961? (iii) Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case the Learned Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “A” Bench, Kolkata erred in law in not holding that the case of the assessee fails within the parameters of Section 194J of the Income Tax Act, 1961 inasmuch as the payments are made by the assessee in respect of services like channel carriage fee, uplinking, bandwidth charges which are defining royalty payments which are covered under Section 194J of the Income Tax Act, 1961? We have heard Mr. Smarajit Roychowdhury, learned counsel for the appellant/revenue and Mr. Ananda Sen, learned counsel for the respondent/assessee. It is not disputed before us that identical question of law in the assessee’s own case for the assessment year 2010-11 was decided by the Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court in Commissioner of Income Tax, Kolkata-I (TDS) vs. Media World Wide (P.) Ltd. reported in [2020] 120 taxmann.com 423 (Kolkata) and the appeal filed by the revenue was dismissed. The said decision has become final and binding on the revenue. The identical question

3 was also decided against the revenue in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax, TDS 2 vs. Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd. reported in [2019] 105 taxmann.com 314 (SC). Thus, following the above decision, the appeal filed by the revenue is dismissed and the substantial questions of law are answered against the revenue. The connected application for stay (IA No.GA/2/2018, Old No.GA/1462/2018) also stands dismissed. (T.S. SIVAGNANAM, J.) (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.) A/s./S.Das