Shuttering material entitled to benefits of deduction

Hyderabad: A two-judge Bench of the High Court at Hyderabad while dealing with whether ‘shuttering material’ must be taken as a single unit or its components too should be considered answered that its parts too would be factored and ruled in favour of the assesse. “It is a matter of common knowledge that shuttering and centering material comprises of steel plates or wooden planks of stipulated sizes, and wooden or steel planks to provide horizontal support and steel pipes or wooden poles to provide vertical support.

Once manufactured the material is capable of being reused on quite large number of occasions and works”. After detailing, however, the end product differs and constantly, the Bench of which Justice C Kodandaram is party said that by its very usage “shuttering material of any particular area cannot be treated as a unit. The Bench referred to Section 32 (1) (ii) of the Income Tax Act which provides for depreciation.

The Bench pointed out to the verdicts of different High Courts in this regard where there was unanimity that such shutters cannot be treated as a single unit and its constituents too are entitled to the benefits of deduction under the heading of depreciation”. The Bench was, however, confronted with a contrary view of the AP High Court.

The Bench then dealt with the theory of how much it was bound by the verdict of the earlier Bench and pointed out that it would tread the path of the other High Courts as that was backed up by the ratio of the Supreme Court. The Bench accordingly declared that the irreducible minimum for the shuttering material was the individual plates and not the shutters themselves.