TMI Blog1946 (4) TMI 19X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wild plants. The Income-tax Officer, in making his assessment in the year in question, included a net sum of ₹ 5,394 in respect of the income derived by the assessee in the accounting year from the sale of timber from his zamindari property. It is out of this assessment that this reference to us has been made. In the statement of the case to us the Tribunal has set out the facts with some care. It has to be borne in mind that the question of law at issue was whether under Section 2(1)(a) of the Indian Income-tax Act the gain derived by the assessee from the sale of the timber mentioned above was entitled to exemption from taxation on the ground that it was agricultural income, that is to say income derived from.............land which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... forest trees of spontaneous growth, growing on land naturally and without the intervention of human agency, even if the land is subject to a local rate (assessed and collected by the officers of the Crown as such) is 'agricultural income' within the meaning of Section 2(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, and as such exempt from income-tax under Section 4(3)(viii) of the Act? Put in that form, there can in out view be only one possible answer to this questions and that is the answer which the Tribunal itself has given. We do not feel disposed to discuss this at any great length since in our judgment it is a matter which admits neither of doubt nor argument. We are entirely satisfied that, being trees of spontaneous growth, to the pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the evidence on the record and that it has critically examined all the records and it can find no trace whatever of any cultivation at all which has produced or contributed to the producing of these trees. It is a circumstances not without significance that the hearing before the Tribunal was an ex parte hearing. The assessee did not appear on the date fixed but made an application for a postponement, which after due consideration was refused by the Tribunal. We have no reason to suppose that that refusal was not without good reason. In spite of it the Tribunal investigated the facts with care and in due course they reached the finding of fact which we have mentioned above. In substance what the assessee is now seeking to do is to reopen th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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