Law: Income Tax Act (XI of 1922)

Section:

Income-tax Act (XI of 1922)------   -----S. 2 (1)-Agricultural income -Forest product-Income from sale of sal trees from sal forests.   With regard to income from the sale of sal trees from the sal forests of the assessee it was found that the whole sal area was divided into plots and all trees on a plot were sold when they were about 15 years old. No tilling of the soil or sowing of the seeds or grafts or watering was done. During the rainy season the new shoots came out from stumps of old trees cut. Forest officers and guards were maintained to prevent new shoots from being damaged by men and cattle. The plots were kept free from leaves and undergrowths to prevent damage to the new shoots. The trees in the plots sold had to be cut according to directions given by assessee's officers during a particular season of the year. There was no breaking up of the soil by tilling or digging, no planting of seeds or saplings, nor any weeding in the ordinary cultivator's sense. The removal of the undergrowth was not by the assessee or at his expense but by villagers who were allowed to clear and take away the undergrowth free of cost:   Held, that the operations above-mentioned were not agricul tural operations and income from the sale of sal trees grown in the sal forests of the assessee was not agricultural income.   Commissioner of Agricultural Income-tax v. Raja Jagadish Chandra Deo Dhabal Deb (1949) 17 I T R 426; Commissioner of Income-tax v. Jyotikana Chowdhurani (1957) 32 I T R 705; Commis sioner of Income-tax v. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (1957) 32 I T R 466 ; Maharajadhiraj Sir Kameshwar Singh v. Commissioner of Income-tax (1957) 32 I T R 587 and Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy v. Commissioner of Income-tax (1953) 24 I T R 70 ref.   STATEMENT OF CASE   By this application presented on 26th April 1954, the assessee requires the Appellate Tribunal to refer to the High Court under section 66 (1) of the Income-tax Act certain questions of law said to arise out of the order of the Appellate Tribunal dated 19th February 1954, in I. T. A. No. 479 of 1948-49. As, in our opinion, a question of law does arise out of the aforesaid order, we…