TMI Blog1939 (6) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the sun for about 10 days, then made up into larger bundles for transport to the factory, sometimes after watering. According to the Supplementary Case, the tendu plant is entirely of wild growth and propagates itself by root-suckers or by self sown seed; it is never planted by human agency and grows in jungle or waste lands; there is no breaking up of the land nor ploughing nor raising up of the soil; there is no watering nor manuring. No fencing nor other protection is afforded. Occasionally patches of tendu occur in cultivated holdings but the land on which the plants actually stand is not cultivated. In the cold whether dead leaves, broken twigs and thorns may be burnt. This is not essential and is not done in many areas. The effec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . Paragraph 6: that the lessor may collect grazing dues on cattle grazing in the forest and sell the produce thereof except the tendu leaves sold to the assessees. Lease Annexure C was for five years and gave the assessees the right to collect and sell tendu leaves from plants growing on the lands of the village (Mouza Taraimar). Lease Annexure D (above referred to) was for five years and entitled the assessee to collect tendu leaves from the cultivated, uncultivated and waste lands of all the zemindari villages (284 in number). Lease Annexure E was for 12 years and covered ten villages. It gave the lessees absolute possession and control of tendu leaves and provided that the lessees are entitled to make tendu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of ₹ 1,75,539 or any portion thereof can be said to be agricultural income within the meaning of Section 2(1) of the Indian Income Tax Act (Act XI of 1922) ? In the argument before us it was not contended that items (1) ₹ 62,902 and (2) ₹ 30,970 were agricultural income. Obviously they were profits on the sale of tobacco like any other raw material: they were an ordinary trading profit and not agricultural income. The question remains as to the other items of profit (3) ₹ 51,491 and (4) ₹ 30,176 attributable to the tendu leaves. The burden is upon the assessees to show that these items come within the exceptions of Section 4(3)(viii). The assessees must, under Section 2(1) show that the income sought to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ontributes to the growth of the leaves in that shrub and I am prepared to hold that the pruning of the shrub is a cultivation of the shrub and as the shrub grows in the soil and as a part of it, is a cultivation of the soil in a legal and technical sense. How much such pruning contributes to the growth of the crop gathered as a whole is a difficult question of fact which the Income Tax Officer must determine as best he can from such evidence as he has at his disposal including such evidence as the assessees provide him with. Not the whole crop, nor even all the leaves in the shrub pruned are due to pruning or cultivation , wild nature makes a large contribution. As regards the collecting of dead leaves, broken twigs and thorns in the co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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