JUDGMENT
N.V. Balasubramanian, J.
1. This writ petition is posted for hearing today. Mr. Devanathan, Advocate, represented the petitioner. Learned senior standing counsel for income-tax cases Mr. S. V. Subramaniam represented that the writ petition has been filed for a mandamus, directing the respondents to refund a sum of Rs. 1,90,186 stated to be the due with future interest as per the provisions of sections 240 and 244 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The case of the writ petitioner is that the refund has become due to the petitioner consequent to an appellate order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal in I.T.A. No. 2054 of 1979, dated May 12, 1980, deleting certain additions made in the assessment of the petitioner allowing the appeal preferred, by the petitioner.
Learned senior standing counsel represented that as against the order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal in I.T.A. No. 2054 of 1979, dated May 12, 1980, the Income-tax Department has filed T.C.P. No. 316 of 1982, and T.C.P. No. 213 of 1983, on the file of this court requesting this court to direct the Tribunal to state a case and refer certain questions of law arising out of the order of the Tribunal. It is mentioned in the affidavit that this court has directed the Appellate Tribunal to state the case and certain questions of law also Were referred. Accordingly, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal stated a case to this court which came to be numbered as T.C. No. 1117 of 1984 (CIT v. K. T. M. S. Mohamood [1997] 228 ITR 113) on the file of this court and this court by a judgment dated August 8, 1996, has not accepted the views of the Tribunal that the addition should be deleted and answered the, questions arising in the tax case in favour of the Department. In other words, the assessment, modified in the appeal by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) was upheld in the judgment. Hence, the claim of the petitioner that he is entitled to the refund of the amount of Rs. 1,90,186 with interest is not, sustainable in view of the judgment of this court in, T.C. No. 1117 of 1984, dated August 8, 1996. The scenario is completely changed after the judgment in T.C. No. 1117 of 1984, and the petitioner has no right to claim the refund or the interest on the basis of the order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Madras, which has no legal existence in view of the answers rendered by this court to the questions of law referred in the department’s reference. In other words, once the foundation on which the claim for refund was made has disappeared by reason of the judgment of this court in T.C. No. 1117 of 1984, the claim of the petitioner also must share the same fate. Accordingly, the petitioner is not entitled to claim the refund of Rs. 1,90,186 or the interest thereon on the basis of the order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, which has no legal force after the judgment in T.C. No. 1117 of 1984. Accordingly, this court holds that the writ petition has no merit due to the change in circumstances created by the fluctuating fortunes of litigation. Consequently, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs.