TMI Blog1998 (6) TMI 36X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the husband of the assessee. In the statement of the case, it is stated that the Department had contended before the Tribunal that the experience of the husband of the assessee in the line of business in evaluating the jewellery could not be equated to the professional and technical qualifications referred to in the proviso to section 64(1)(ii) of the Act and that the possession of professional knowledge and experience was not a substitute for the possession of technical qualifications. The same contention has been advanced before us by learned counsel for the Revenue. Counsel contended that Parliament has advisedly used the expression, professional or technical qualifications" in the proviso to section 64(1)(ii) of the Act and that u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has been paid by way of remuneration to the spouse. Having regard to the intimate relationship between the spouses, the income received by one of them from the business owned or run by the other is presumed to be the income earned by the spouse who owns or runs the business except in the cases covered by the proviso. The proviso to section 64(1)(ii) is meant to be applied to all assessees irrespective of their qualification or the nature of the trade or business carried on by them. The spouse of such an assessee would be governed by the proviso to section 64(1)(ii). The proviso in terms does not limit its application to the professions such as medicine, law, engineering or accountancy. Undoubtedly, all those professions are governed by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... their entry into these and conferment of right to practise such professions, cannot have the effect of denying to those who are engaged in such trade or profession their right to receive income without having the same clubbed with the income of the spouse solely on the ground that there is no prescribed Course of study in the Universities for such trade or profession. While construing the provisions of a statute, due consideration should be given to the context in which it occurs, the object of the provision as also the fact that the statute is meant to be applied uniformly to all and is not meant to be applied to a few. The income of every spouse irrespective of his or her station in life, or whether he or she resides in a rural and urb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... degree of skill. The degree of skill required is a matter for examination in each case. A person having skill, experience and competence in that line of work can be regarded as professionally qualified for the purpose of section 64(1)(ii), proviso. It is not the case of the Revenue that the husband of the assessee did not have any knowledge of jewellery or he was incapable of rendering any assistance in the running of the jewellery business or that he did not have the expertise in appraising gold items of jewellery. All that was contended was that he did not have a degree or diploma in that subject conferred by a recognised University or equivalent institution. Having regard to the object of the section and the liberal interpretation requ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a large departmental store cannot claim that any remuneration that he receives from his wife is not to be clubbed merely on the ground that he has professional qualification in medicine even when the knowledge and experience in medicine had not been used by him for the purpose of earning the remuneration from his wife. We, however, are unable to subscribe to the view that the word, "qualification" should be confined to the qualification conferred by a University or its equivalent. The High Court of Bombay also did not confine the word "qualification" to the degree conferred by a University. It was observed by the court in the course of the judgment that a person can be said to be in possession of requisite technical qualification when by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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