TMI Blog1987 (7) TMI 54X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s wrong and perverse ? 2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, is not the assessee exigible to additional Wealth-tax ? " The respondent in both these cases is an assessee to wealth-tax. She is an individual. She owns 32 acres of land. Out of the above 32 acres, 26 acres are covered by rubber plantations. In the other 6 acres, there are trees like mango, coconut, etc. There was also a building used as residence and as an office of the assessee. We are concerned with the assessment years 1973-74 and 1974-75. The Government of India by notification dated February 6, 1973, included Edappally within the limits of the Cochin Corporation as urban land. On this basis, the Wealth-tax Officer levied additional wealth-tax on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erabad [1958] 9 STC 397 at page 401 held that a producer of crops may engage in the business of selling or supplying and become a dealer for the purpose of the Sales Tax Act. Earlier, the Bombay High Court in Girdharilal Jiwanlal v. Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax [1957] 8 STC 732 held that the cultivation of land may be undertaken with the object or purpose of carrying on the business of selling and supplying agricultural produce and in that case, the person concerned will be a dealer for the purpose of the Sales Tax Act. The word " business " has not been defined in the Wealthtax Act. In such circumstances, what is the meaning to be given to that word is the primary question. In Manmadhan v. Krishnappan Unni [1985] KLT 670, a Division ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e ; as usually commercial or mercantile activity customarily engaged in as a means of livelihood and typically involving some independence of judgment and power of decision ; transactions, dealings, or intercourse of any nature ; serious activity that requires time and effort and usually the avoidance of distracting influences; particular field of endeavour.' There are other shades of meanings as well. We should remember that the meaning of the word 'business' depends upon the context and the statute in which it occurs. In mercantile statutes or fiscal statutes it may mean one thing; but in non-mercantile statutes the same meaning cannot fit in." In Hari Singh's case [1980] 123 ITR 558, the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that agricu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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