TMI Blog1970 (6) TMI 5X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... acted to consolidate and amend the laws providing for the levy of a tax on the agricultural income from lands used for growing commercial crops in the State of Mysore. The Agricultural Income-tax Acts in force in the different areas integrated in the new State of Mysore were repealed by section 69 of the Act; the repeal however saved the previous operation of the repealed enactments. Section 3 of the Act, which is the charging section, charged agricultural income-tax at the rates specified in Part I of the Schedule to the Act on the total agricultural income of the previous year of every person and that charge was levied for each financial year commencing from the 1st day of April, 1957. Section 4 of the Act provided that the Act shall apply to all agricultural income derived from lands situated in the State of Mysore by any person whether resident in the State or not. Section 2(1)(v) defined " State " to mean " State of Mysore ". For the financial year 1957-58, the petitioner was assesse to agricultural income-tax on its income derived from lands situated in the area of the former State of Mysore during the accounting year ended March 31, 1957, by assessment order dated December ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... side the judgment, remanded the case for disposal in the light of its judgment. During the pendency of the abovementioned appeals before the Supreme Court, the Mysore legislature amended the definition of the " State " or " State of Mysore " occurring in section 2(1)(v) of the Act by Mysore Act No. XXV of 1962. Section 2 of the Amending Act reads as follows : " 2. In sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957 (Mysore Act 22 of 1957) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for clause (v), the following clause shall be and shall always be deemed to have been substituted, namely : (v) ' State ' or ' State of Mysore ' means the State of Mysore comprising the territories specified in clauses (a), (b),(c),(d), and (e) of subsection (1) of section 7 of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Central Act No. 37 of 1956). " The Supreme Court was of the opinion that the effect of the said amendment is that agricultural income derived from lands situated in the territories specified in clauses (a) to (e) of sub-section (1) of section 7 of the States Reorganisation Act is sought to be made liable to tax under the Act even for the period prior to No ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t for the assessment year 1957-58 the assessee in respect of agricultural income derived from lands in Coorg is liable to be assessed under the Coorg Agricultural Income-tax Act of 1961. In Keshavamurthy Chetty v. Agricultural income-tax Officer (Writ Petition No. 1416 of 1960 on the file of this court) another Bench of this court (Hegde and Iqbal Hussain JJ. held that the agricultural income of the assessee derived from lands in the area of the former State of Mysore during the previous year 1957-58 is liable to be taxed under the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955, and not under the Act. In Mallikarjunappa v. Agricultural Income-tax Officer, Chickmaglur, the Bench consisting of Hegde and Khan JJ., without reference to the earlier decisions mentioned above, took a contrary view holding that for the assessment year 1957-58, the assessee is liable to be taxed under the Act. In Devon Tea and Produce Co. Ltd. v. State of Mysore (A. I. T. R. C. No. 5 of 1966 on the file of this court) a Bench consisting of Hegde and Bhimiah JJ. held that for the assessment year 1957-58, the income of the petitioner is not liable to be assessed under the 1955 Act but under the Act. We are inclined ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... force. In Travancore and Cochin State, which was integrated with the new State of Kerala, the Travancore. Cochin Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950, was in force. The legislature of the State of Kerala amended the Travancore-Cochin Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950, by Kerala Act, No. 8 of 1957, by which the principal Act was extended to the whole State of Kerala. When assessments were made under the Travancore-Cochin Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950, as amended by Kerala Act No. 8 of 1957, for the assessment year 1957-58, on the income derived from lands situated in the Malabar district during the relevant previous year, the assessees challenged the said assessments before the Kerala High Court on the ground that the Kerala legislature was not competent to tax the income derived before November 1, 1956, from lands situated in the district of Malabar when it was in Madras State. The Full Bench of the Kerala High Court upheld the contention of the petitioners and quashed the assessments on the ground that the State's power of taxation can have no extra-territorial operation, that the lands of the assessee situated in the district of Malabar were in Madras State before November 1, 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gricultural income derived from lands situate in the State of Mysore by any person whether resident in the State or not. Part of the income during the relevant accounting period was derived from lands of the petitioner when the said lands were situated in the former State of Mysore. The former State of Mysore had full legislative competence to levy agricultural income-tax on the income derived from lands situated in its territory. Similarly, the States of Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad and Coorg were competent to levy tax on agricultural income derived from the lands in their respective territories before November 1, 1956. We have already referred to the existing Agricultural Income-tax Acts in the integrating areas of the new State of Mysore. The existing laws in force on November 1, 1956, continued to operate in their respective areas even after November 1, 1956, by virtue of section 119 of the States Reorganisation Act. The legislature of the new State of Mysore was competent to amend the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955. It could have also enacted an Act levying tax on the agricultural income derived from lands in the Bombay area where there was no Agricultural Income-tax Ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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