9911796707
TMI Blog2012 (9) TMI 1105X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... )(b)(i) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and to exclude said income u/s 10(1) of the Act. 02. The learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) grossly erred in ignoring the facts that there is no basic place in a green house and tissue culture laboratory which cannot be termed as land or nursery for growing plants. 03. The learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) grossly erred in ignoring the facts that the sale of the assessee consisted mainly of flowering plants developed out of imported mother plants in a tissue culture laboratory and not grown in a nursery." 2. The facts in brief are as under. The assessee is primarily engaged in the business of plant floriculture/tissue culture. The assessee has claimed exemption of the income from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cluding decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT Vs. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (Supra), Hon'ble Madrash High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Soundarya Nursery, 241 ITR 530(Mad.) and of Hon'ble Allahabad High Court in the case of Jugal Kishore Arora Vs. DCIT, 269 ITR 133 (Allhad.). The relevant para Nos. 33 to 40 of the decision of the Tribunal in the case of the assessee for A.Y. 2004-05 (supra) are being reproduced hereunder for a ready reference : "33. In our considered view, therefore, the operations carried out on the facts of the case before us are agricultural operations in nature. The objections taken by the authorities below are devoid of any legally sustainable merits/. Applying the ratio of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (supra) and the facts of the case, observed as follows : All the products of the land, which have some utility either for consumption or for trade or commerce, if they are based on land, would be agricultural products. Here, it is not the case of the Revenue that without performing the basic operations, only the subsequent operations, as described in the decision of the apex court have been performed by the assessee. If the plants sold by the assessee in pots were the result of the basic operations on the land on expending human skill and labour thereon and it is only after the performance of the basic operations on the land, the resultant product grown or s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... perations have been, and can only be, carried out on the land. The fact that this land is in a greenhouse does not change the character of operations. The distinction was thus wrongly made out by the CIT(A), in our considered view, the principles laid down by the Hon'ble Madras High Court's judgment in the case of Soundaraya Nursery (supra) apply to the facts of the case before us as well. 38. We may also refer to Hon'ble Allahabad High Court judgment in the case of Jugal Kishore Arora Vs DCIT (269 ITR 133). In this case, Their Lordships, after taking note of and analyzing the landmark Supreme Court judgment in the case of Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (supra), also observed that "the nature of produce raised has no relevance to the characte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d is no longer sine qua non for treating income as agricultural income. This plea was clearly an alternative plea. Since we have allowed the basic plea of the assessee and we have held that the basic operations were carried out on land, it is not really necessary to deal with this alternative plea which is only academic in the present content. We leave it at that. 40. In view of the above discussions, and for the reasons set out above, we are of the considered view that the authorities belong indeed erred in law and on facts of this case in holding that the impugned income is not agricultural income. We, therefore, direct the Assessing Officer to treat the said income as agricultural income under section 2 (1A)(b)(i) of the Act. As a coro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
