AA-435 VelankattuvalasuPrimary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society Ltd., Erode V. ACIT(OSD), Ward 2(3), Range-2, Erode

ITA 601/CHNY/2021

• Counselvise Citation: [2022] 105 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 3244 (ITAT-CHENNAI)
• Duration Of Justice: 4 month(s) 6 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 28-04-2022
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: PartlyAllowed
• Bench Allotted: A
• Assessment Year: 2017-2018
• Appeal Filed On: 22-12-2021
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Reopening of assessment
• Section: 56; 143(3); 80P; 43; 13; 22

Judgement Text

आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, ‘ए’ ᭠यायपीठ, चे᳖ई IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ‘A’ BENCH, CHENNAI Įी महावीर ͧसंह, उपाÚय¢ एवं Įी मनोज क ु मार अĒवाल, लेखा सदèय के सम¢ BEFORE SHRI MAHAVIR SINGH, VICE PRESIDENTAND SHRI MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ITA Nos.: 600 & 601/CHNY/2021 िनधाᭅरण वषᭅ /Assessment Years: 2011-12 & 2017-18 AA-435 Velankattuvalasu Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society Ltd., Velankattuvalasu, Avalpoondurai (PO), Erode – 638 115. PAN: AAAAA 6120A v. The ACIT (OSD), Ward -2(3), Range-2, Erode. (अपीलाथᱮ/Appellant) (ᮧ᭜यथᱮ/Respondent) अपीलाथᱮ कᳱ ओर से/Appellant by : Ms. G. Vardhini Karthik, Advocate ᮧ᭜यथᱮ कᳱ ओर से/Respondent by : Shri AR. V. Sreenivasan, Addl. CIT स ु नवाई कȧ तारȣख/Date of Hearing : 12.04.2022 घोषणा कȧ तारȣख/Date of Pronouncement : 29.04.2022 आदेश /O R D E R PER MAHAVIR SINGH, VP: These two appeals by the assessee are arising out of different orders of Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC), Delhi in Appeal Nos.CIT(A), Coimbatore- 3/10359/2018-19 & CIT(A),Coimbatore-3/11178/2019-20 dated 29.10.2021 & 26.10.2021. The assessments were framed by the 2 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 ACIT, Ward 2(3), Range-2, Erode for the assessment years 2011-12 & 2017-18 u/s.143(3) r.w.s. 147 & 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter ‘the Act’) vide orders dated 31.12.2018 & 26.12.2019 respectively. 2. The first common issue in both the appeals of assessee is against the faceless appeal proceedings conducted without affording personal hearing and in assessment year 2011-12, one more issue of reopening of assessment, the ld.counsel for the assessee at the first stage stated that she is not interested in prosecuting these two grounds and hence, the same are dismissed as not-pressed. 3. The only common issue on merits in these two appeals of assessee, is as regards to disallowance of claim of deduction u/s.80P of the Act in regard to income received from associate members i.e., interest received from Class B members. For this, assessee has raised identically worded grounds in both the years and facts and circumstances are also exactly identical. Hence, we will take grounds from ITA No.600/CHNY/2021 for assessment year 2011-12. The relevant Ground Nos. 6 to 10 reads as under:- 6. The CIT(A) ought to have seen that the Appellant is a Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society registered under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, 1983 and provides providing agricultural loans to its members (Class A and Class B) 3 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 7. The CIT(A) ought to have seen that there is no definition of members under the Income Tax Act, 1961 and all the members have to renew their membership once in three years. 8. The CIT(A) failed to see that the concept of members (A class and B class) is as per under Section 2(6) of the Tamilnadu Cooperative Society Act 1983 and also as per Bye laws of Society and the Assessing Officer himself found that the associate members are also admitted as members of the society. 9. The Appellant’s case is squarely covered by the judgment of the Jurisdictional High Court in the case of CIT vs. S-1308 Ammapet Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank Ltd., [2017] 392 ITR 55 (Mad) and PCIT vs. S-1308 Ammapet Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank Ltd., [2020] 426 ITR 244 (Mad). 10. The CIT(A) ought to have seen that the ratio descendi in the case of Citizen Co-operative Society Ltd., vs. ACIT, [2017] 397 ITR 1 (SC) is that Section 80P of the Act, being a benevolent provision to encourage and promote the credit of the co-operative sector in general, must be read liberally and reasonably, and if there is ambiguity, in favour of the assessee. 4. Brief facts are that the assessee is a primary agricultural cooperative society registered under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, 1983. The assessee filed its return of income for the relevant assessment year 2011-12 and claimed deduction u/s.80P(2)(a)(i) & 80P(2)(d) of the Act. This return was processed u/s.143(1) of the Act and subsequently assessment was reopened by issuing notice u/s.148 of the Act on 27.03.2018. The AO framed assessment by disallowing the claim of deduction u/s.80P of the Act, by stating that the society is engaged in granting loans to general 4 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 public without approval from Registrar of Societies and therefore cannot be treated as cooperative society meant only for providing credit facilities to its members and accordingly would not be entitled to claim the benefit u/s.80P of the Act. Aggrieved, assessee preferred appeal before CIT(A). 5. The CIT(A) also confirmed the action of AO vide para 6 as under:- “6. I have carefully considered the action of the Assessing Officer and the submissions of the appellant. I find that after thorough and detailed investigation the Assessing Officer had discovered that the appellant society has both members and non-members, has earned more interest from non- members who are not shareholders and has advanced loans at very high rates. Hence, it is concluded by the Assessing Officer that principle of mutuality is violated. I have also noted that the Assessing Officer has enquired into the sources of interest received by the appellant, considered it as income from other sources and hence not eligible for deduction u/s 80P of the Income Tax Act.” 6. Before us, ld.counsel for the assessee argued on merits that the assessee is a primary agricultural cooperative society registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 and the assessee society accepts deposit, advancing loans and providing credit facilities to its regular members i.e., A Class members with voting powers, etc., as well as to associate members. The details are given by CIT(A) in his order and accordingly, it is engaged in carrying on the business of providing credit facilities to its members 5 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 and therefore eligible for claim of deduction u/s.80P(2)(a)(i) of the Act. The ld.counsel argued that the AO as well as CIT(A) has gone into the issue of concept of members i.e., providing agricultural loan to its members i.e., Class A & Class B, but there is no distinction between the members. The ld.counsel for the assessee stated that the case law relied on by the Revenue in the case of Citizens Cooperative Society Limited vs. ACIT, (2017) 94 taxman 114(SC) was explained further by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of The Mavilayi Service Co-operative Bank Ltd., vs. CIT, [2021] 123 taxmann.com 161. She referred to the Jurisdictional High Court decision in the case of PCIT vs. S-1308 Ammapet Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank Ltd., [2019] 108 taxmann.com 594 and stated that the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court has explained the definition of members provided as per section 2(6) of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act and also considered the decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Citizen Co-operative Society Ltd., supra. 7. On the other hand, the ld.Senior DR relied on the orders of the lower authorities. 6 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 8. We have heard the rival contentions and gone through the facts and circumstances of the case. We noted that this issue is squarely covered exactly on identical facts by the Co-ordinate Bench decision in the case of Tamilnadu Co-operative State Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Limited in ITA Nos.31 to 33/CHNY/2021, the decision pronounced on 29.04.2022, wherein considering the decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of The Mavilayi Service Co-operative Bank Ltd., supra and the decision of Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of S-1308 Ammapet Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank Ltd., supra, the deduction is allowed u/s.80P(2) of the Act in respect of income earned from associated members. The Tribunal in the case of Tamilnadu Co-operative State Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Limited, supra held as under:- 21. We have heard the rival contentions and had gone through the facts and circumstances of the case. We have perused the case records, including the assessment order and the order of the CIT(A). We have also perused the paper-book filed by the learned Counsel of the Assessee consisting of pages 1 to 120 and pages 1 to 25. The Revenue has also filed a paper-book consisting of 1 to 84 pages and also filed written submissions along with annexures which were considered. We noted that the first objection of the learned CIT-DR is that the Assessee is a Co-operative Bank and not a Co-operative Society. We will deal with this argument of the learned CIT-DR. First of all, we have gone through the bye-laws of the Assessee Society which are placed at page 92. The relevant objects of the Assessee are mentioned at pages 93 and 94 of the Assessee’s paper-book and the relevant reads as under: 7 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 “Objects : 3. The object of the Bank shall be primarily to finance Primary Land Development Banks. 4. In order to fulfill such object, it shall have power: a) To float debentures on the security / of its assets and of land mortgages, other assets transferred or deemed under the provisions of section 23A of the Act to have been transferred to it by Primary Land Development Banks or against the guarantee of Government of Tamil Nadu for repayment in full of principal and payment of interest in respect of loans granted by Tamil Nadu Co-operative State Land Development Bank to any institution approved by the Government by general or special order in writing, for such period and on such conditions as may be laid down by the provisions of the Act and the regulations made there under by the Board.[R.D. is 938/90C, dated 14.05.1990] (aa) TO OBTAIN LOANS WITH GOVERNMENT GUARANTEE FROM ANY FINANCING AGENCIES OR FROM GOVERNMENT WITHOUT FLOATATION OF DEBENTURE ON SUCH CONDITIOONS AS MAY BE LAID DOWN BY THE GOVERNMENT. (1) Enbloc amendments from 1 to 35 and 43 to 54 registered by the DR of CS(c) vide his letter No.Rc.4673/71-k, dated 21.05.1971 (2) Enbloc amendments from 36 to 42 registered by the DR of CS(c) vide his letter No.Rc.4673/71-k, dated 19.04.1971. (b) to receive deposits; (c) to grant loans to Primary Land Development Banks and other institutions referred to in by law 2(c) for the purpose specified in Rule 13 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Land Development Banks (Miscellaneous provisions) Rules 1970 and on such terms consistent with their bylaws as the Board shall decide; [No.Rc.1636/77K, dated 26.02.1977) (d) to function as the agent of any Co-operative Bank, subject to such conditions as the Registrar may, by general or special order, specify; 8 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 (e) to acquire such immovable properties and construct such buildings as it may consider necessary for the proper conduct of its business; (f) to appoint what staff it considers necessary to conduct the affairs of the bank; (g) to inspect the primary land development banks and the lands mortgaged to them and to appoint the necessary staff or the authority; (h) to develop, assist and co-ordinate the work of the affiliated primary land development banks and afford them financial and other help wherever necessary; (i)to do such other things as are incidental to or conducive to the above subject; The Assessee’s primary objective as mentioned in the objects is to provide finance to primary land development banks to extend loans for agricultural activities. We noted that the Assessee is a Co- operative Society registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Society Act, 1983 and obtained registration as a Co-operative Society on 12.12.1929 and since then, it has been operating as a Co- operative Society providing finance to the members of the Society. We noted that the Assessee, like other co-operative institutions is a Co-operative Society and was entitled for deduction u/s.80P of the Act, the legislature, through the Finance Act 2006, introduced Section 80P(4) of the Act with a specific intention to exclude co-operative banks from this scope of deduction u/s.80P of the Act. The reasons sighted in the Finance Act, 2006 reads as under: “166. Co-operative Banks, like any other Bank, are lending institutions and should pay tax on their profits. Primary Agricultural Credit Societies [PACS] and Primary Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Banks [PCARDb] stand on a special footing and will continue to be exempt for tax under section 80P of the Income Tax Act. However, I propose to exclude all other co-operative banks from the scope of that section.” 9 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 From the above, it is clear that the provisions of Section 80P(4) of the Act was brought under the statute book, is to exclude the co-operative banks out from the ambit of Section 80P of the Act because, they have functions of any normal bank. In the present case, before us, although the Assessee by nomenclature, the name is “Tamil Nadu Co-operative Society, Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Limited”, but it is a co-operative Society registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983. 22. We noted that the learned CIT-DR heavily relied on the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Citizen Co- operative Society Limited (supra); wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court has upheld the disallowance of the claim of deduction u/s.80P of the Act. We noted the facts that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has discussed the following crucial aspects: I. The Society was originally formed under the mutually aided co-operative Societies Act, 1995 [MACSA] and subsequently had got registered under the Multi-State Co- operative Societies Act 2002 and their activities were in violations of the provisions of the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002 under which it had been functioning; II. The persons from whom deposits were received were not traceable; III. Additions were proposed u/s.68 of the Income Tax Act, 1961; IV. They had approached the Reserve Bank of India [RBI] vide letter dated 19.10.1997 requesting for conversion of the Co-operative Society into an Urban Bank; V. They had lent money to general public without obtaining permission from the concerned Registrar of the Co- operative Societies; VI. They had claimed to be a Co-operative Society for the claim of deduction u/s.80P of the Act and Banking Company / Co-operative Bank for the purpose of Section 269SS and 269T. 23. Now, we have gone through the facts of the Assessee and that, what is the difference as in the case-law of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in the case of Citizen Co-operative Society Limited (supra) and that of the present case is noted as follows: I. That the Assessee is registered as a Co-operative Society under Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983. II. That the Assessee provides services only to its members and not to the public and hence the principle of mutuality applies, 10 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 III. That the Society has a record of the name and address of all the members are identifiable and available; IV. That the Society has not obtained any authorization or License from RBI to operate as a Banking Institution. Added to that, there is no inspection by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI], no reports are sent to RBI, there is no cheque withdrawal facility, the Society is not allowed to issue Demand Drafts and finally, the deposits are only from members and no non-members are involved; V. That the Society has taken due approval for admission of members from the Registrar of Co-operative Societies and with members’ capital only, it has been lending and conducting its business transactions; 24. Now, coming to an another objection of the learned CIT-DR that the Assessee never gave the list of “B” category members or Associate members, as they were general public and whole of their accounts were in the banks. It was the argument of the learned CIT- DR that “B” category members were general public derived the facilities of the Assessee Bank without having any voting right in the Bank and moreover, they only gave the maximum business support to the Assessee Bank. We have considered this argument and noted that the Assessee has two categories of members, as under: a) Members – State Government and Primary Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks. b) Associate Members – Individuals and other Institutions. 25. We noted that the Assessee had filed before us, the extracts of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 and the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Rules. The Rule relating to the Associate Member as provided in Section 2(6) and in Section 2(16) reads as under: a. “Definitions as in the Act: I. Section 2(6) of the Act defines “Associate Member” as member who possesses only such privileges and rights of a member and who is subject only to such liabilities of a member as may be specified in this Act and the bye-laws. II. Section 2(16) of the Act defines a “Member” as a person joining in the application for the registration of a Society and a person admitted to membership after registration in 11 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Rules and Bye-laws and includes an Associate Member.” We also noted that the Section 22 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 and Rule – 32 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Rules describe the procedure for admission of Associate Member and the relevant Rule reads as under: I. Section 22 – Admission of Associate Members: - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 21, every registered society of such class as may be prescribed may admit any person possessing such qualifications as may be prescribed, as an associate member. (2) Except as otherwise provided in the Rules, an Associate Member shall not be entitled to participate in the general meeting of the registered Society, or in the elections to the Board of such Society or to become an Officer of the registered Society or to any share in any form whatsoever in the assets or profits of the registered Society. II. Rule 32 : - Admission of Associate members : - (1) Persons possessing the qualifications specified in sub-rule (2) may, if the bye-laws so provide, be admitted as Associate Members in the following class of Societies namely: (9) An Associate Member shall not be required to contribute to the share capital of the Society but shall pay such admission fee as may be specified in the bye-laws, which shall not in any case exceed one hundred rupees. The admission fee shall not be refundable. 26. Before us, the learned Counsel for the Assessee explained the procedure and argued that an individual member, to become an Associate member of the Assessee Society, they will have to get the approval from the Registrar of the Co-operative Society. He agreed that the bye-laws of the Assessee Society clearly states that all the members are required to hold shares but Associate members are exempted from holding such shares, in view of the Section 22(2) of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 and the Rules as amended from time to time. We noted that the Assessee’s transactions are restricted only to the members or Associate members and not to the general public as alleged by the learned CIT-DR. 12 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 According to us, the Assessee cannot be construed to carry the business of Banking as defined u/s.5(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Thus, if the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 is now to be seen, what is clear from Section 3, read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 is that, a Primary Co-operative Bank cannot be a Primary Agriculture Credit Society as such a Co-operative Bank must be engaged in the business of banking, as defined by Section 5(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, which means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from the public. Even the provisions of Section 22(1)(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, which is also applicable to the Co-operative Societies, but no Co-operative Society shall carry on Banking business in India, unless it is a Co-operative Bank and holds a license issued on it’s behalf by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI]. The Assessee in the present case does not hold any license from the Reserve Bank of India or it is neither registered as a Banker under the Banking Regulation Act and as such, the Assessee is not allowed cheque or withdrawal facility and not allowed to issue Demand Draft and finally the deposits are only from the members or Associate members but not from non-members. 27. Before us, the learned Counsel for the Assessee has categorically made statement at the bar and produced evidences that the Assessee has records of the names and addresses of the members and all the members are identifiable and available. Further, it was contended that the Assessee has always submitted all relevant documents as and when sought for and it is not the case of the Assessing Officer that the Assessee has not submitted the relevant documents or any particular depositor is not an Associate member. Further, we also noted that the applicability of the provisions of Section 80P(4) of the Act was first raised by the Revenue for the Assessment Year 2009 – 2010, as the Assessee had adopted the same deduction and had filed his return of income accordingly. The Tribunal has categorically held that, in Assessment Year 2009 – 2010 in Assessee’s own case, in I.T.A. No.1318/Mad/2013, dated 01.05.2014 that the Assessee is a Co-operative Society and is not engaged in the business of Banking and hence the provisions of Section 80P(4) of the Act does not apply to the Assessee’s case. 13 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 However, this matter was carried before the Hon’ble Madras High Court by the Revenue in T.C.A. No.540 of 2015, which was dismissed by the Hon’ble High Court in view of the monetary limit fixed by the CBDT for maintainability of appeal before the Hon’ble High Court but the substantial question of law framed with respect of the Section 80P(4) of the Act was left open and the Tribunal became final on the same. 28. Now, we have noted that the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Mavilayi Service Co-operative Bank Limited (supra) considering the earlier decision in the case of Citizen Co-operative Society Limited (supra) has considered exactly an identical issue on exactly identical facts and held in paragraph nos.39 and 40, as under: “39. The above material would clearly indicate that the limited object of Section 80P(4) is to exclude co-operative banks that function at par with other commercial banks, i.e. which lend money to members of the public. Thus, if the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 is not to be seen, what is clear from Section 3 read with section 56 is that a primary co-operative bank cannot be a primary agricultural credit society, as such co-operative bank must be engaged in the business of banking as defined by section 5(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, which means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from the public. Likewise, under section 22(1)(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as applicable to co-operative societies, no co-operative society shall carry on banking business in India, unless it is a co- operative bank and holds a license issued in that behalf by the RBI. As opposed to this, a primary agricultural credit society is a co-operative society, the primary object of which is to provide financial accommodation to its members for agricultural purposes or for purposes connected with agricultural activities. 40. As a matter of fact, some primary agricultural credit societies applied for a banking license to the RBI, as their bye- laws also contain as one of the objects of the Society the carrying on of the business of banking,. This was turned down by the RBI in a letter dated 25.10.2013 as follows: “Application for license 14 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 Please refer to your application dated April 10, 2013 requesting for a banking license. On a scrutiny of the application, we observe that you are registered as a Primary Agricultural Credit Society [PACS]. In this connection, we have advised RCS vide letter dated UBD (T) No.401/10.00/16A/2013-14 dated October 18, 2013 that in terms of Section 3 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 [AACS], PACS are not entitled for obtaining a banking license. Hence, your society does not come under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India, RCS will issue the necessary guidelines in this regard.” After considering these, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has summed up the issue in paragraph nos.45 and 46 as under: “45. To sum up, therefore, the ratio decidendi of Citizen Co- operative Society Limited (supra), must be given effect to Section 80P of the Income Tax Act, being a benevolent provision enacted by the Parliament to encourage and promote the credit of the co-operative sector in general must be read liberally and reasonably, and if there is ambiguity, in favour of the Assessee. A deduction that is given without any reference to any restriction or limitation cannot be restricted or limited by implication, as is sought to be done by the Revenue in the present case by adding the world “agriculture” into Section 80P(2)(a)(i) when it is not there. Further, Section 80P(4) is to be read as a proviso, which proviso now specifically excludes co-operative banks which are co-operative societies engaged in banking business, i.e. engaged in lending money to members of the public, which have a license in this behalf from the RBI. Judged by this touchstone, it is clear that the impugned Full Bench Judgement is wholly incorrect in its reading of Citizen Co-operative Society Limited (supra). Clearly, therefore, once Section 80P(4) is out of harm’s way, all the Assessees in the present case are entitled to the benefit of the deduction contained in section 80P(2)(a)(i), notwithstanding that they may also be giving loans to their members which are not related to agriculture. Also, in case it is found that there are instances of loans being given to non-members, profits attributable to such loans obviously cannot be deducted. 15 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 46. It must also be mentioned here that unlike the Andhra Act that Citizen Co-operative Society Limited (supra) considered, ‘nominal members’ are ‘members’ as defined under the Kerala Act. This Court in U.P. Co-operative Cane Unions’ Federation Limited vs. Commissioner of Income Tax [1997] 11 SCC 287 referred to section 80P of the Income Tax Act and then held: “8. The expression “members” is not defined in the Act. Since a co-operative society has to be established under the provisions of the law made by the State Legislature in that regard, the expression “members” in section 80P(2)(a)(i) must, therefore, be construed in the context of the provisions of the law enacted by the State Legislature under which the Co-operative Society claiming exemption has been formed. It is therefore, necessary to construe the expression “members” in Section 80-P(2)(a)(i) of the Act in the light of the definition of that expression as contained in Section 2(n) of the Co-operative Societies Act. The said provision reads as under: “2.(n). ‘Member’ means a person who joined in the application for registration of a Society or a person admitted to membership after such registration in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the rules and the bye- laws for the time being force but a reference to ‘members’ anywhere in this Act in connection with the possession or exercise of any right or power or the existence or discharge of any liability or duty shall not include reference to any class of members who by reason of the provisions of this Act do not possess such right or power have no such liability or duty;”” Considering the definition of ‘member’ under the Kerala Act, loans given to such nominal members would qualify for the purpose of deduction under section 80P(2)(a)(i).” 29. Another aspect highlighted by the learned Counsel for the Assessee is that the Revenue while framing the assessment u/s.143(3) of the Act for the Assessment Year 2017 – 2018, vide order dated 25.12.2019 has accepted the above stated position that the 16 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 Assessee is a Co-operative Society and is not engaged in any banking business and therefore eligible for claim of deduction u/s.80P(2) of the Act and further the Revenue has followed the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Mavilayi Co- operative Society Limited (supra). It means that the Revenue has accepted the position in the Assessment Year 2017 – 2018 while framing the scrutiny assessment and now the Revenue cannot go back from its stand because there is no change in the facts. 30. In view of the above facts discussed and the case-laws of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Mavilayi Service Co-operative Bank Limited vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Calicut (supra), we are of the view that the Assessee is a Co-operative Society under the name and style as “Tamil Nadu Co-operative State Agricultural and Rural Development Bank Limited” and it is not engaged in the banking activities. It is also clear that in view of Section 3 read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Assessee cannot be considered as a Primary Co-operative Bank but it is a Primary Agricultural Credit Society because Co-operative Bank must be engaged in the business of Banking as defined in the Section 5(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, which means accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from the public. Similarly, u/s.22(1)(b) of the Banking Regulation Act, as applicable to Co-operative Societies, no Co-operative Society shall carry on in banking business in India, unless it is a Co-operative Bank and holds license issued on this behalf by the Reserve Bank of India. In the present case also, there is no banking activity and it is not registered as a Bank and it does not hold any license issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The Assessee being a Primary Agriculture Credit Society is a Co-operative Society. The primary object of which is to provide financial accommodation to its members, i.e. members as well as Associate members for agriculture purposes or for purpose connected with the agricultural activities. Further, we are of the view that the provision of Section 80P(4) of the Act is to be read as a proviso, which proviso now specifically excludes co-operative banks which are co-operative societies engaged in the banking business, i.e. engaged in lending money to members of the public, which have a license in this behalf from the Reserve Bank of India. Clearly, therefore, the Assessee’s case is out of the provisions of Section 17 ITA Nos.600 & 601/Chny/2021 80P(4) of the Act. In relation to the Associate members, we are of the view that the provisions of Section 22 read with Rule 32 of the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act, 1983 and Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Rules clearly determine the procedure to admit Associate members and accordingly in the present case, the Assessee’s Co- operative Society has admitted the same. In view of the above finding, we hold that the Assessee is entitled for the claim of deduction u/s.80P(2)(a)(i) of the Act. Thus, we reverse the orders of the lower authorities and allow these three appeals of the Assessee. Accordingly, we find the issue is squarely covered and hence, in this case also we allow the claim of deduction u/s.80P(2) of the Act. 9. In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is partly allowed. Order pronounced in the court on 29 th April, 2022 at Chennai. Sd/- Sd/- (मनोज कुमार अᮕवाल) (MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL) लेखा सद᭭य /ACCOUNTANT MEMBER (महावीर ᳲसह ) (MAHAVIR SINGH) उपा᭟यᭃ /VICE PRESIDENT चे᳖ई/Chennai, ᳰदनांक/Dated, the 29 th April, 2022 RSR आदेश कᳱ ᮧितिलिप अᮕेिषत/Copy to: 1. अपीलाथᱮ/Appellant 2. ᮧ᭜यथᱮ/Respondent 3. आयकर आयुᲦ (अपील)/CIT(A) 4. आयकर आयुᲦ /CIT 5. िवभागीय ᮧितिनिध/DR 6. गाडᭅ फाईल/GF.