9911796707
TMI Blog1956 (2) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... du undivided family, owned about 70 acres of agricultural land at Perur near Coimbatore. It also maintained in the estate 65 cows and 10 pairs of bulls. During the accounting year 1945-46, it received Rs. 28,000 from the Co-operative Milk Supply Union at Coimbatore to which it sold the milk of these cows. For the assessment year 1946-47 it claimed that the profits from the sale of milk constituted agricultural income and as such were exempt from payment of income-tax. As no material had been placed before the Income-tax Officer in support of this claim, it was granted an adjournment for furnishing complete materials and thereupon a letter dated the 26th February, 1947, signed by the auditors was filed the relevant portion whereof reads : ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , whereby the High Court held that there was no material available to the Tribunal to hold that the income received from the sale of milk by the assessee during the accounting year was not "agricultural income" within the meaning of the Act and allowed the appeal. The Commissioner of Income-tax, Madras, applied for and obtained from the High Court the requisite certificate for leave to appeal to this Court and hence this appeal. The facts which were not in dispute between the parties were that the assessee owned 70 acres of land which was used for agricultural purposes. Some part of the land was used for agriculture and produce of the value of Rs. 32,220 was raised on it and some part of the land was used as pasture. 65 cows and 10 pairs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n the letter of its auditors dated the 26th February, 1947. Reliance was particularly placed by the assessee on the position in law as enunciated in Commissioner of Income-tax, Burma v. Kokine Dairy, Rangoon, and the passage in the judgment of Roberts, C. J., at page 509 therein : "What is exempted from tax by the Income-tax Act is agricultural income and for the purpose of considering the position of a dairy farm and the milk which is derived from it, it is necessary to enquire whether the cattle are kept in an urban area and stall-fed or whether they are pastured upon the land ......... where cattle are wholly stall-fed and not pastured upon the land at all, doubtless it is trade and no agricultural operation is being carried on ; whe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rowing of trees or plants whose growth is effected by the expenditure of human effort, skill and attention in such operations, as those of ploughing, sowing, planting, pruning, manuring, watering, protecting, etc., as held by Spencer, J., in Panadai Pathan v. Ramaswami Chetty. The word 'agriculture' applies to the cultivation of the soil for food products or any other useful or valuable growth of the field or garden and is wide enough to cover the rearing, feeding and management of livestock, which live on the land and draw their sustenance from the soil" ; and also on the following passage from the referring judgment of Bose, Acting C. J., in Mahendralal Choudhari v. Commissioner of Income-tax, C. P. and Berar : "I do not conceive that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Authorities of proving that the income from the sale of milk received by the assessee during the accounting year was not agricultural income. In order to claim an exemption from payment of income-tax in respect of what the assessee considered agricultural income, the assessee had to put before the Income-tax Authorities proper materials which would enable them to come to a conclusion that the income which was sought to be assessed was agricultural income. It was not for the Income-tax Authorities to prove that it was not agricultural income. It was this wrong approach to the question which vitiated the judgment of the High Court and led it to an erroneous conclusion. We are not called upon in the facts and circumstances of the case before ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... terials to the Income-tax Officer in spite of the latter having given it an adjournment for the purpose. Counsel for the assessee, as an ultimate resort, appealed to us that we should send back the case to the High Court for calling a further statement of case from the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal but we declined to entertain the application at that late stage, the assessee having not availed itself of the opportunity given by the Income-tax Officer to it in the earlier stages of the enquiry and having rested merely on the position in law as emerging from the judgment of Roberts, C. J., in Commissioner of Income-tax, Burma v. Kokine Dairy, Rangoon. The result, therefore, is that the appeal will be allowed and the answer given by the High ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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