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Issues Involved:
1. Whether the amount of Rs. 62,500 was a capital receipt. 2. Whether the amount of Rs. 62,500 was assessable u/s 45 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as capital gains. Summary: Issue 1: Whether the amount of Rs. 62,500 was a capital receipt. The assessee, an incorporated company engaged in the business of exhibition of cinematographic films, entered into partnerships for the distribution and exploitation of films. The assessee sold its interest in two firms, receiving Rs. 62,500 as compensation for the unexpired period of the contracts. The Assessing Officer and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner treated the amount as business income, while the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal held it as a capital receipt. The Tribunal relied on the judgment in A. K. Sharfuddin v. CIT [1960] 39 ITR 333, which stated that compensation for relinquishing partnership rights is a capital receipt. However, the High Court disagreed, noting that the partnerships were for facilitating the assessee's existing business and not the profit-earning apparatus. The compensation was for relinquishing interest in commercial assets, making it a revenue receipt. The High Court referenced CIT/CEPT v. South India Pictures Ltd. [1956] 29 ITR 910, where compensation for adjusting rights in the ordinary course of business was deemed a revenue receipt. Thus, the High Court concluded that the sum of Rs. 62,500 was a revenue receipt. Issue 2: Whether the amount of Rs. 62,500 was assessable u/s 45 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as capital gains. Given the answer to the first question was in the negative, the High Court found it unnecessary to render an opinion on whether the amount was assessable u/s 45 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as capital gains. Conclusion: The High Court answered question No. 1 in the negative, in favor of the Revenue and against the assessee, determining that the sum of Rs. 62,500 was a revenue receipt and thus liable to be assessed to tax. Consequently, question No. 2 was not addressed.
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