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TMI Blog1979 (10) TMI 19X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fied the land as " tope ". During the course of the proceedings taken by him for revising the earlier compounding, he inspected the land along with the special revenue inspector. He found that there were teak plants varying in height between 3 to 6 feet standing in the field. The teak plants could be used as sticks in constructing thatched houses and as fuel. Re, therefore, held that the assessee would have derived income from these teak plants, and he rejected the objection petition filed by the assessee and brought to charge the escaped extent of tope. The difference in tax was as follows: Year Difference of tax Rs. 1968-69 432-00 1969-70 322-40 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at a revision would not lie to this court against an order of the Commissioner of Agrl. IT. Section 54 of the Agrl. I.T. Act enables an assessee to file a revision to the High Court, against an order of the Commissioner passed under s. 34 of the Act. The revision would lie in the case of an order under s. 34, only if there is an enhancement of assessment or there is any prejudice to the assessee. It is contended that the Commissioner's order has done neither and that, therefore, there can be no revision. In support of this submission, the learned Govt. pleader relied on a decision of a Full Bench of this court in Seshadrinathan v. State of Madras [1966] 60 ITR 482. Learned counsel for the revision petitioner, when he was posed with this preliminary objection, took time for filing petitions under art. 226 of the Constitution of India. He has filed petitions for converting the revision petitions into writ petitions. These petitions for conversion came up for hearing today. On behalf of the Government, a counter had been filed and after hearing the objections of the learned Govt. pleader, we consider that these revision petitions may be permitted to be converted as writ petitions. Ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the teak plants are not at all cultivated by him and that they are of spontaneous growth and that the lands are being used as grazing ground. At the time of my inspection I did not find any cattle grazing there and I was told that grazing was not allowed since the plants are very small............ In this case there is no agricultural operation for about 50 or 60 years and the owner denies any operation even prior to that period even though enquiry reveals that there might have been some operation about 50 or 60 years back. It is rather very difficult to prove that there was agricultural operation about 50 or 60 years back in view of the positive assertion of the petitioner that there was no agricultural operation at all for planting the trees." It is this report which was considered by the Commissioner of Agrl. I.T. and he observed: " On this point it has to be admitted that at present no agricultural operations are conducted in raising teak trees or any other trees in these lands. But it would appear the trees were once planted...... Further, the lands in question are classed as ' dry ' in revenue accounts and are subject to dry assessment. They are, therefore, prima facie mean ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the State of Tamil Nadu. Whereas it is expedient to provide for the levy of a tax on agricultural income from land in the State of Tamil Nadu. Entry 46 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution enables the State to levy " taxes on agricultural income ". The expression " agricultural income " is not defined in the Constitution separately, except by reference to the enactments relating to income-tax. Article 366 of the Constitution provides : " In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say (1) 'agricultural income' means agricultural income as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to Indian Income-tax." The definition of " agricultural income " under the I.T. Act is contained in s. 2(1) of the I.T. Act, 1961. Section 2(1) of the I.T. Act of 1961 reads : "(1) 'Agricultural income' means (a) any rent or revenue derived from land which is situated in India and is used for agricultural purposes; (b) any income derived from such land by (i) agriculture ; .........." It is unnecessary to refer to the rest of the definition. The definition r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and in question would not be agricultural income. Learned Government pleader contended that we are concerned only with S. 65 of the Act and that so long as the assessee had applied under s. 65, the assessee would be bound by the option exercised for compounding. What is overlooked in this connection is that S. 65 is only a substitute for the computation of the tax payable under the Act. Section 65(1)(a) provides that any person who holds land wholly grown with non-plantation crops, may apply to the prescribed officer for permission to compound the agrl. income-tax Payable by him, and to pay in lieu thereof a lump sum at the rate or rates specified in Part II of the Schedule to the Act. Thus, there must be a liability to the agrl. income-tax under the Act and that liability is sought to be compounded by the proceedings under s. 65. When there are no agricultural operations on the lands in the present case there is no question of any agricultural income and, consequently, it follows that there is no liability to agrl. income-tax which would be compounded under the Act. Learned Govt. pleader drew our attention to s. 2(nnn) which defines "land " as follows: " ' land' means agricultu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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