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TMI Blog1985 (4) TMI 32X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for allowing the Director of Advertising and Visual Publicity, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi, for taking photographs of 19 paintings. It appears that the assessee had valuable collection of old paintings, some of which were selected for reproduction in the India Diary, 1966, published by the Government of India in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A photographer from the photo division of the Ministry went to the residence of the assessee and took the photographs of 19 paintings, for which a sum of Rs. 9,500 were paid as mentioned above. The assessee claimed exemption in respect of the aforesaid income of Rs. 9,500 under section 10(3) of the Income-tax Act. The Income-tax Officer did not accept the contenti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... count of the difference of opinion between the members of the Tribunal referred the case to the Vice-President of the Tribunal, who agreed with the finding of the judicial member and held that merely because the assessee was offered some amount by way of reproduction fee for allowing the representative of the Government of India to take photographs of his paintings, the reproduction charges received by the assessee could not be held to be income arising out of business, profession or vocation. The Tribunal consequently dismissed the appeal by its order dated August 31, 1977. The Commissioner of Income-tax, jodhpur, moved an application before the Tribunal seeking a reference of a question of law arising out of its order dated August 31, 19 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Tribunal under section 256(1) of the Act, the Tribunal considered the matter on merits as to whether the aforesaid income was received by the assessee as arising out of business, profession or vocation, but then the Tribunal proceeded to hold that the finding arrived at by the Tribunal was purely one of fact. The question whether, in the particular facts and circumstances of the case, the income arising to the assessee by way of reproduction fee amounted to income from business, profession or vocation or was an adventure in the nature of trade, is essentially a question of law. In our view, although the facts are well-established and there is no dispute about them that the income of Rs. 9,500 was received by the assessee by way of reproduct ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ual and non-recurring, may arise out of business, profession or vocation. What is required to be decided in the present case is that on the basis of the established facts, what was the nature of the transaction on account of which the assessee received a sum of Rs. 9,500. If the nature of the transaction does not constitute business or trade, then such income would fall within the exception contained in section 10(3), even if it is of casual and non-recurring nature. But, it cannot be held that the decision about the nature of such a transaction is purely a finding of fact. In our view, it would amount to an application of the legal principles to the facts found by the Tribunal. As such, we think it is a proper case in which the Tribunal sh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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