Holding

An interim dividend paid by the Board of Directors is not a declaration of dividend by the company; therefore, the rebate must be reduced in the year of distribution under clause (c) of proviso 2(i) of the Finance Act, 1964.

Summary

Express News Papers Ltd., a public limited company, resolved on 6 December 1962 to pay an interim dividend, payable on 16 January 1963. The Income Tax Officer reduced the rebate available under the Finance Act, 1964 for assessment year 1964‑65, treating the dividend as a reduction trigger. The company contended that, under Explanation 3 of the Finance Act, the rebate should not be reduced because the declaration preceded the previous year. The High Court held otherwise, but the Supreme Court reversed, observing that under the Companies Act, 1956 a dividend is only ‘declared’ by the company in a general meeting, whereas an interim dividend is merely paid by the board and does not constitute a declaration. Consequently, the dividend distribution in January 1963 attracted the rebate reduction under clause (c) of proviso 2(i) of the Finance Act. The appeal was allowed, the High Court judgment set aside, and the rebate reduction upheld.

Issues considered

Whether an interim dividend resolved by the Board of Directors constitutes a 'declaration' of dividend for the purpose of clause (c) of proviso 2(i) of the Finance Act, 1964.
Whether Explanation 3 to the Finance Act, 1964 prevents reduction of the rebate when the declaration is made before the previous year but distribution occurs during the previous year.

Legislation cited

Companies Act, 1956s. Sec. 205, s. Table A Clause 85, s. Table A Clause 86
Income Tax Act, 1961

Subjects

interim dividendrebate reductionFinance Act 1964Companies Act 1956declaration of dividendincome tax assessmentboard of directorstax rebate

Judgment

A THE COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX
v.
M/S. EXPRESS NEWS PAPERS LTD.

JANUARY 21, 1998

B [B.N. KIRPAL AND S.P. KURDUKAR, JJ.]

Income Tax Act, 1961/Finance Act, 1964 .

Interim dividend-Nature of-Declaration of interim dividend by Board
C of Directors on 6.12. I 962 to be payable on I 6. I. I 963-Accounting year of
Company being calendar year-Income Tax Officer reduced the rebate for the
assessment year 1964-65 to the extent of interim dividend-Held, provisions
of clause (c) of proviso 2(1) attracted-Income tax authorities were right in
reducing the rebate for the assessment,year 1964-65-lnterim dividend cannot
D be construed as meaning declaration of dividend by Company-Nature of the
interim dividend is such that it gives ntJ right to shareholders to receive it
merely on passing of resolution by Board of Directors whereas on a dividend
being declared by the Company in General meeting, a vested right accrues
to shareholders.

E J. Dalmia v. Commissioner ofIncome Tax, Delhi, 53 I.T.R. 83, relied on.

Companies Act, 1956

S. 205, Table A, Clauses 85 and 86-Declaration of interim dividend
by Board of Directors on 6. I 2.1962 payable on I 6. I .1963-Accounting year
F of Company being Calender year-Held, where the Board of Director, and,
not the company in general meeting, decides to pay interim dividend, the
rebate will be withdrawn in the year of distribution of the interim dividend,
there being no declaration by the company for payment thereof

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 2941-42 of 1985.
G
From the Judgment and Order dated 30.10.79 of the Madras High Court
in T.C. Nos. 22-23 of 1976.

S. Rajappa and B.K. Prasad for the Appellants.·

H Manoj Arora, N.B. Joshi, P.H. Parekh and S. Bharhari for the
288
C.I.T v. EXPRESS NEWS PAPERS LTD. 289
Respondents. A
The following Order of the Court was delivered :

The respondent is a Public Limited Company which is running a well
known newspaper. The Indian Express and we are concerned in this case with
Income Tax for assessment year 1964-65. B
On 6th December, 1962 the Board of Directors of the respondent-company
. passed a resolution whereby it decided that interim dividend should be
distributed amongst the shareholders. The resolution further provided that
this dividend would be payable on 16th January, 1963. It may here be noticed
that the accounting year of the respondent-Company is the calendar year. The C
resolution which was passed on 6th December, 1962, therefore, was in the
previous year relevant to the assessment year 1963-64 whereby the payment
was made to the shareholders in the following year relevant to the assessment
year 1964-65.

In determining the amount of tax which was payable by the Company D
for the assessment year 1964-65 the Income Tax Officer came to the conclusion
that the rebate which was available to the Company under the Finance Act,
1964 had to be reduced to the extent of the interim dividend paid to its
shareholders in January, 1963. The claim of the respondent, in the appeal filed
by it, was that the Board of Directors had declared the dividend on 6.12.1962, E
i.e. before the start of the relevant previous year and the payment was made
in the subsequent previous year and, therefore, by virtue of Explanation 3 to
the first proviso of the Finance Act, 1964 the rebate could not be reduced.
Having failed to get any relief from the appellate authorities, a question of law
with regard to this aspect was referred to the High Court by the Tribunal. Two
others questions were also referred but we are not concerned with those in F
the present case and answer to them stand concluded by the judgment of the
High Court.

The High Court reframed the relevant question of law as follows:-

"Whether on the facts and the in the circumstance of the case the sum G
of Rs. 3,39,000 declared as dividends on 6th December, 1962, by the
Board of Directors, but payable only on 16th January, 1963, could.be
taken into account in withdrawing the rebate admissible under the
first proviso to the Finance Act of 1964 by reference to sub-clause (c)
of Clause (i) of the second proviso to the same Act read with H
290 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1998) l S.C.R.

A Explanation 3 to the same Act."

The High Court came to the conclusion that the company, acting through
its Directors, had declared the interim dividend on behalf of the Company and
when the payment was made not in the same previous year but was made in
the subsequent year, Explanation 3 became applicable and the !ebate could
B not be reduced. In this appeal it has been contented by the learned counsel
for the appellant that the High Court erred in coming to the conclusion that
there was any declaration of any dividend, as understood under the Companies
Act, by the Company. According to the learned counsel, the resolution of the
Board of Directors dated 6th December, 1962 cannot be regarded as a declaration
C of dividend by the Company and therefore what was relevant is to see the
date when the interim dividend was distributed and as the distribution took
place in the previous year relevant to the assessment year 1964-65 therefore
the rebate to that extent was rightly withdrawn. On behalf of the respondent,
however, it was submitted that the judgment of the High Court called for no
D interference as the distribution of the dividend took place pursuant to the
declaration by the Board of Directors.

In order to appreciate the point in issue, it will be appropriate to refer
to the relevant provision. The Finance Act, 1964, like all other Finance Acts,
inter-alia, provides for the rate at which Income-tax and Super tax is levied.
E According to this Act the rate of Super tax of the whole of the total income
was 55% , as per paragraph D of Part (II) of the Finance Act, 1964. The first
proviso to this c.ontains the rebate which is allowed in computation of the tax.
This rebate is, however, reduced wherever the provisions of the second
proviso become applicable. In the present case, second proviso clause I (i)
F (c), inter-alia, provides that the amount of rebate shall be reduced where the
Company has "declared or distributed to its shareholders during the previous
year any dividend .... " The rate of reduction, as per this sub-clause is 7.5%
on the whole of the amount of dividend which is declared. Explanation 3, on
which reliance is placed by the respondent, to this provision reads as follows:

G "Explanation 3. - For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared that
where any dividends were declared by the company before the
commencement of the previous year and ~re distributed by it during
that year, no reduction in the rebate shall be made under sub-clause
(c) of clause (i) of the second proviso in respect of such dividends."
H On a carefully examination of the aforesaid provision, it appears to us
C.l.T v. EXPRESS NEWS PAPERS LTD. 291

that the rebate given by the first proviso can be reduced if dividend has been A
declared or distributed by the Company to its shareholders. Two expressions
are used, namely, "declared" and "distributed". Learned counsel for the
respondent is right in construing Explanation 3 to mean that if the declaration
of the dividend is in the year prior to the commencement of the relevant
previous year but the distribution is in the relevant previous year then no B
rebate would be reduced in which distribution takes place. In other words, the
rebate, as far as Explanation 3 is concerned~ can be reduced only if the
declaration and the distribution is in the same previous year.

In our opinion, the High Court committed an error in proceeding on the
assumption that the resolution passed by the Board of Directors on 6th C
December, I 962 amounted to a declaration of dividend. Under Sec. 205 of the
Companies Act, dividend is distributed on a resolution being passed by the
company in general meeting. The Companies Act, as such, does not specifically
refer to the distribution of interim dividend. Table A, however, proyides for
payment of interim dividends. Two clauses of Table A to the Companies Act, D
namely, Clause 85 and 86 read as follows:-

"85. The Company in general meeting may declare dividends, but no
dividend shall exceed the amount recommended by the Board.

86. The Board may from time to time pay to the members such interim E
dividends as appear to it to be justified by the profits of the Company."

Unfortunately, the Articles of Association of the respondent-company
are not on record but normally, as is expected, the Articles of Association
would be in consonance with the provisions of Table A. The perusal of
aforesaid Clauses 85 and 86 clearly brings out the distinction in the power F
of the Company and the Board of the Directors . It is a Company which in
.. general meeting is empowered to declare dividend. Clause 86 does not give
the Board of Directors power to declare any dividend but only enables it to
pay interim dividend to the members of the Company from time to time. It is
because there is a difference in the power which is exercised by the Company
in general meeting, vis-a-vis, the one exercised by the Board of Directors
G
while deciding to pay an interim dividend, that in clause (c) of the second
proviso in the Finance Act, the expression used is "declared or distributed
to its shareholders". This clearly postulates a situation where they may be
distributed of dividend without its declaration. This can be where the Board
of Directors and not the Company in general meeting, decides to pay interim H
292 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1998] I S.C.R.

A dividend in which case the rebate will be withdrawn in the year of distribution
of the interim dividend, there being no declaration by the Company for the ,).._,
payment thereof.

The difference in the nature of interim dividend and the dividend declared
B by the company general meeting is clearly brought out in a decision of this
Court in the case of J Dalmia v. Commissioner ofIncome Tax, Delhi 53 l.T.R.
83. In that case the Board of Directors had declared an interim dividend in
its meeting he.Id on 30th August, 1950 and payment was made to the
shareholders by. dividend warrants issued on 28th December, 1950. The
accounting year of the assessee ended on 30th September, 1950, relevant to
C the assessment year 1951-52. The question arose whether the interim dividend
declared by the Board of Directors in the previous year relevant to the
assessment year 1951-52 was to be taxed in that year or was the interim
dividend liable to be taxed in the assessment year 1952-53 because the
payment was made in that previous year. Dealing with the nature of the
D interim dividend, this Court at page 87 observed as follows:-

"There is no doubt that a declaration of dividend by a company in
general meeting gives rise to a debt. "when a company declares a
dividend on its shares, a debt immediately becomes payable to each
shareholder in respect of his dividend for which he can sue at law, and
E the statute of limitation immediately begins to run". In re Severn and
Why and Severn Bridg_e Railway Company. Bµt this rule applies only
in· case of dividend declared by the company in general meeting. A ·
final dividend in general may be sanctioned at an annual meeting
when the accounts are presented to the members. But power to pay
F interim dividend is usually vested by the articles of association in the
directors. For paying interim dividend a resolution of the Company is
not required: if the directors are authorised by the articles of association
they may pay such amount as they think proper, having regard to their
estimate of the profits made by the company. Interim dividend is
therefore paid pursuant to the resolution of the directors on some day
G between the ordinary general meetings of the company. On payment,
undoubtedly interim dividend becomes the property of the shareholder.
But a mere resolution of the directors resolving to pay a certain
amount as interim dividend does not create a debt enforceable against
the cornpany, for it is always open to the directors to rescind the
H resolution before payment of the dividend. In Lagunas Nitrate ·
C.l.Tv. EXPRESS NEWS PAPERS LTD. 293
Company (Limited) v. Henry Schroeder and Company the directors A
).._ of a company passed a resolution declaring interim dividend payable
on a future date, and requested the company's bankers to set apart,
out of the money of the Company in their hands, into a special
account entitled "Interim Dividend Account", a sum sufficient to
cover the dividend, pending the company's instructions. But before
the date fixed for payment, the directors resolved that pending certain B
~
litigation to which the company was a party payment of dividend be
postponed. It was held by the Court that the directors had the right
even after resolving to pay interim dividend to rescind the resolution
and no enforceable right arose in favour of the members of the
Company by the declaration of interim dividend. c
Therefore, a declaration by a company in general meeting gives
rise to an enforceable obligation, but a resolution of the board of
directors ·resolving to pay interim dividend or even resolving to declare
interim dividend pursuant to the authority conferred upon them by the
articles of association gives rise to no enforceable obligation rescinded. D
·~
Therefore, departure in the text of article 74 of the articles of association
of Govan Bros. form the statutory version under Table A of the power
in respect of interim dividend, dividend which may be entrusted to the
directors, makes no real difference in the true character of the right
arising in favour of the members of the company on t~e execution of E
the power. The directors, by the articles of association, are entrusted
with the administration of the affairs of a company; it is open to them
if•
so authorised
I
to declare interim dividend. They may, but are not
bound to, pay interim dividend even if the finances of the company
justify such payment. 'Even if the directors have resolved to pay F
.. ~ interim dividend, they may before payment rescind the resolution."
-
The aforesaid observation clearly supports the view which we have
taken, namely, that the nature of the interim dividend is such that it gives no
right to the shareholders to receive it merely on the passing of the resolution
by the Board of Directors whereas on a dividend being declared by the G
.,,._ Company in general meeting a vested right accrues to the shareholders. This
being so, if the Company in general meeting had declared a dividend on 6th
December, 1962 and the same was distributed in January 1963, then the
aforesaid Explanation 3 would have been applicable. But in the present case,
the decision of the Board of Directors on 6th December, 1962 to pay interim H
294 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1998] 1 S.C.R.

A dividend cannot be construed as meaning declaration of dividend by the
company. This being so what would be relevant is the distribution of the
dividend in January, 1963, thereby attracting the provisions of Clause (c) of
proviso 2(i) and the Income-tax authorities were therefore right in reducing the
rebate in the manner in which they did for the assessment year 1964~65.

B For the aforesaid reason, the appeals are allowed. The judgment of the
High Court is set aside. The question of law, as reframed by the High Court,
is answered in the affirmative and in favour of the revenue. There will be no
order as to costs.

R.P. Appeal allowed.

+