TMI Blog1974 (7) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... --...... (ii) otherwise than as a tenant, the amount paid by him on account of current repairs to the premises." The question before us is whether the repairs in respect of which the assessee claimed deduction are " current repairs " to the premises. The learned single judge was not prepared to hold that the repairs in question were " current repairs " to the premises. In that view, he dismissed the writ petition. The facts necessary for determination of the question involved are these : The appellant is a public limited company. It submitted return for the assessment year 1967-68 and claimed deductions in a sum of Rs. 16,252 on the ground that that sum represented " current repairs " of the factory. The Income-tax Officer disallowe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed by the learned judge. The learned judge relied upon the report of the Commissioner appointed by the Small Causes Court who inspected the building a few years ago in connection with the question of enhancement of rent of the building, the finding of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the finding of the Commissioner of Income-tax that the amount does not represent " current repairs " effected by the assessee. What Mr. Anjaneyulu contends before us is that the report of the Court Commissioner in a rent control matter which deals with the entire premises cannot be taken into consideration while judging whether the repairs now effected represented " current repairs " and, even otherwise, that report does not deal with any defects in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and recurrence, when the expenditure is incurred to bring into existence a new asset or an advantage of an enduring nature, it cannot be regarded as an expenditure on current repairs. 3. The degree of improvement brought about and the change effected in the identity of the existing asset as the result of the expenditure incurred should afford a test in order to determine whether the asset has become a new or substantially a new asset. " The learned counsel for the revenue relying upon the second and third tests, contended that the repairs in question were not repairs effected periodically, but were repairs of an enduring nature and the new hall by replacement of the cement sheets has become substantially new asset. In so contending, Mr. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the walls that had come down during the rainy season, he had rejected the claim. It cannot be said if the compound walls had collapsed on account of heavy rains during the accounting year that repairs effected to them are accumulated repairs, or, in other words, the assessee slept over the matter for 4 years without attending to the repairs which the wall required. Even if minor repairs has been effected to the walls, they could not have with stood heavy rains. It is not the case of the revenue that there were no heavy rains in the accounting year or the walls did not collapse on account of heavy rains. We are, therefore, unable to agree with the learned counsel, Mr. Rama Rao, that repairs effected to the walls are not " current repairs ". ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ide when his building, machinery, plant or furniture requires repairs and it is by that test alone that the question must be decided as to whether the repairs are current repairs or repairs which have fallen into arrears or have been accumulated over a period of time and then expenditure has been incurred in carrying out those repairs. What is, therefore, to be seen is whether by the repairs carried out to the hall putting new cement sheets, any new asset has been brought into existence or were they repairs which were attended to as and when the need for them arose. Hegde J. (as he then was) in Hanuman Motor Service v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1967] 66 ITR 88, 93 (Mys) was considering the question whether replacement of petrol engines by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... SC) was dealing with a case where, in a textile mill, an expenditure of Rs. 93,215 for introduction of the "Casablanca conversion system " came up for consideration. It substantially involved replacement of certain roller stands and fluted rollers fitted with rubber aprons to the spinning machinery, removal of ring frames from certain existing parts, introduction, inter alia, of ball-bearing jockey-pulleys for converting the original band-drivers to tape-drivers and other additions and alterations in the drafting mechanism. The Income-tax Officer and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner disallowed the claim of the assessee for deduction. On appeal to the Tribunal, it inspected the factory and studied the working of the machinery with " Casa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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