9911796707
TMI Blog1992 (6) TMI 81X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ooks, such as vehicle licence books licence for elephants, camel, asses, dogs and the like; and --forms, such as property tax assessment list, establishment bills, forms for TA bills, bills for contingent charges, DCB statement, annual account, budget estimate etc. Obviously the policy of the State Government in this regard was that municipalities, town panchayats and such like establishments must place their indents for books, registers and forms on the assessee-society. The price lists referred to above, besides indicating the rates at which the various items could be obtained, indicate the packing and forwarding charges, sales-tax and surcharge on sales-tax payable on the purchase. 3. The assessments for the assessment years 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1986-87 were completed, determining the taxable income of the assessee-society as indicated below: Assessment year 1983-84 1984-85 1986-87 --------------- -------------- ---------------- Gross total income Rs. 6,32,417 Rs. 5,36,280 Rs. 8,75,543 Deduction under section 80P Rs. 20,000 Rs. 20,000 Rs. 20,000 ------------------------ -------------------------- -------------------------- (Rs. 6,12,417) (Rs. 8,55,543) Taxabl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... finish the paper acquires after it passes through the plater; the printed but unfolded and uncut sheets for a book; a long systematic literary composition; a major division of a treatise or literary work; any of the records (as the day book, cashbook, sales book, journal, ledger) in which a systematic record of business transactions may be kept'. Hence, books of all varieties except those which are specifically excluded from its purview under section 80QQ (such as newspapers, journals, magazines, diaries, brochures, tracts, pamphlets and other publications of a similar nature) answer the description of 'books' in section 80QQ. 'Guides' which contain questions and answers and which are published for the benefit of students in schools and colleges are 'books' within the meaning of section 80QQ Satyanarayana Publishing House v. CIT [1979] 118 ITR 519 (AP); CIT v. Dinesh Prakasan Mandir [1979] 120 ITR 376 (All.). Also see Govindaswamy Binding Works v. State of Andhra Pradesh [1972] 29 STC 219 (AP); CIT v. Elecon Engineering Co. Ltd. [1974] 96 ITR 672, 681 (Guj.). Tomline's Will Trusts, In re : Pretyman v. Pretyman [1931] 1 Ch. 521." 6. The CIT (Appeals) allowed the assessee's claim ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o be given to some extent under section 80QQ. In this connection I have also taken note of the fact that the assessee is paying multiple point tax on all the items without claiming any exemption for publication of books allowed under notification under section 47 of the Tamilnadu General Sales-tax Act. The profits attributable to bill books etc. will not be entitled for any deduction whereas the other profits from printing 'books' of nature of account books etc. will be entitled for deduction. All facts duly considered I allow a deduction of 10 per cent on the income from publication of books. In other words half of the income claimed to be from books shall be considered as from publication of forms. " The CIT (Appeals) took the same line on this issue in the appeals relating to the assessment years 1983-84 and 1986-87. 7. The Department is now before us objecting to the aforesaid decision of the CIT (Appeals). 8. Shri K.L. Tilakchand, the learned Departmental Representative, vehemently contended that the books, registers and forms printed and sold by the assessee to various municipalities/town panchayats cannot be labelled "printing and publication of books" within the true ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oked into the facts of the case. We have considered the rival submission. 11. We may clear the decks as it were by considering the issue in relation to the assesment year 1986-87. As rightly pointed out by the learned Departmental Representative, the provisions of section 80QQ are not applicable to the assessment year 1986-87. Section 80QQ was introduced by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1970 with effect from April 1, 1971. The section, as it stood at the time of its introduction, stipulated that the deduction contemplated by that section would be available to the assessment year 1971-72 and/or to any one of the four immediately succeeding assessment years. The word "nine" was substituted for the word 'four' by the Finance Act, 1975 with effect from 1-4-1975. The Finance Act, 1981 substituted the word 'fourteen' for the word 'nine'. Thereafter, there was no extension of the period of availability of the deduction under that section. Thus, the deduction under section 80QQ is available only for the assessment years 1971-72 to 1985-86 (both inclusive). Since the section had outlived its life span, the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987 omitted the section from the Income-tax ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is followed by certain consequences under one statute, it does not follow that the word will have the same meaning in another statute or that the situation will be followed by the same consequences under the other statute. Regard must be had to the context, the intention of the Legislature and the object sought to be achieved by the two statutes. " Another warning was sounded by the court of law and that was in the context of the discovery of the intention of the Legislature from the language used. In the case of CIT v. J.H. Gotla [1985] 156 ITR 323 (SC), recalling to memory the warning administered by Judge Learned Hand, Sabyasachi Mukharji J. observed : " Where the plain literal interpretation of a statutory provision produces a manifestly unjust result which could never have been intended by the Legislature, the Court might modify the language used by the Legislature so as to achieve the intention of the Legislature and produce a rational construction. The task of interpretation of a statutory provision is an attempt to discover the intention of the Legislature from the language used. It is necessary to remember that language is at best an imperfect instrument for the expre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lishing House, held that "registers, ledgers and other account books printed and published by the assessee would come under 'Books'; whereas licence, receipt books and other books which are mere forms of few pages (50 pages or 100 pages) whose leaves are torn off and given to the concerned persons will not come under expression 'Book'; but would fall under the expression 'Other publications of similar nature by whatever name called'." It was on this basis that the CIT (Appeals) concluded "... I allow a deduction of 10 per cent on the income from publication of books. In other words, half of the income claimed to be from books shall be considered as from publication of forms ". 17. The validity of the aforesaid conclusion of the CIT (Appeals), who partly allowed the assessee's claim on this issue will have to be examined in the context of the provisions of section 80QQ of the Act. As already pointed out, section 80QQ was introduced in the Act by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1970. The heading of the section is "Deduction in respect of profits and gains from the business of publication of books". The Notes on Clauses appended to the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 1969 explain ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er, the subject-matter of the book, its format and so on. He certainly does not think of bus tickets, cinema tickets and their printers, even though the tickets might be issued in book form. 20. There is a philosophical dimension too to 'books' and "book publishing". As for books, Bacon said : " Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested". To our knowledge no one has as yet prescribed cash book, ledgers and bill books for human consumption. 21. As for Book Publishing, John Morley in his "Recollections" wrote: "Aptly it has been said by one of the most brilliant writers of our day, that the great publisher is a sort of Minister of Letters, and is not to be without the qualities of a statesman." (Quoted in "The Truth About Publishing" by Sir Stanley Unwin). The archetypal book publisher, and the high priest of book publication, Sir Stanley Unwin himself had in the said book observed: "publishing has rewards greater than money." This accent on the high values of book publishing continues even today. Werner Mark talks of publishing "as a medium of literature, scholarship, education or entertainment." (ibid). John. P. Dessauer reg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... put perceptions of the twin girders on which all good publishing is built: "The single most important difference between publishing and other businesses is the unique importance and presence, visible or not, of the author. Many authors feel neglected or misunderstood by their publishers but compared with what can happen to the creative output of automobile designers, and screenwriters, architects and commercial artists--the author is God. There is no doubt who created the work--and alone. The publisher does not simply manufacture an object of industrial design, assembled by employees; the publisher brings forth a 'product' that, in the end as in the beginning, belongs in the deepest sense to its author. " The fact that each book produced is unique to its author/s immediately sets up the interesting supposition that each book, however, humble, is monopoly unto itself. The most basic educational reader and the newest Vikram Seth, are both unique unto themselves and strictly speaking have no competition, by and large (I am not talking here of competition from other books/authors vying for the customers rupee, merely underlining the fact that each books is unique) and this brings us ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
