Judgment :- RATNAM J. In these tax cases under section 256(1) of the Incometax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), at the instance of the assessee, the following common question of law has been referred to this court for its opinion. "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in law in holding that the appellant is not entitled to deduction under section 35B of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the assessment years 1973-74 and 1974-75 ?" * The Tribunal has found that the assessee was a partner of a firm and the firm carried on business only in Malaysia. In other words, though the partners were resident in India, the firm was a non-resident firm and it did not export any goods from India. Nor did the partners export any goods on behalf of the firm. On the facts so found, the Tribunal concluded that the assessee is not entitled to weighted deduction under section 35B of the Act. This view of the Tribunal is fully supported by the decision of this court in Muthiah (S.) v. CIT 1983 (140) ITR 1030, 1982 (31) CTR 41, 1982 (11) TAXMAN 125 , wherein it has been pointed out that if the firm or the partners of a non-resident firm had not exported any goods from India, the claim for weighted deduction under section 35B of the Act would fail. Similar would be the position in this case also. We, therefore, answer the common question of law referred to us in the negative and against the assessee. There will be no order as to costs.