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TMI Blog1984 (4) TMI 137X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hich had been let out for different persons. One of these is let out to a post office, another to a Government office, a third to a doctor for running a dispensary and the rest to different shopkeepers. It is an admitted position that in the premises given to the shopkeepers the tenants are running a regular business of buying and selling goods. The total rent received from all the premises was Rs. 58,344. out of this amount Rs. 12,686 represented rent from post office, dispensary, etc. In respect of the balance, i.e., from the shopkeepers, the rent received was Rs. 45,658. 3. Before the ITO, the assessee claimed that Rs. 45,658 will be exempt under section 80P(2)(e). The ITO found that these shopkeepers were small merchants dealing in cl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e case of Surat Vankar Sahakari Sangh Ltd. v. CIT [1971] 79 ITR 722 wherein the Gujarat High Court has laid down that the exemption is available only in respect of income derived from letting of godowns or warehouses where the purpose of letting is storage processing or facilitating the marketing of commodities. For the assessee, Shri Atal, the learned counsel submitted that the expression 'warehouse' would cover the shops which are the subject-matter of the dispute. He submitted that the dictionaries had treated warehouse and shop as synonyms. He then pointed out that there are no case laws which referred to the meaning of the expression 'warehouse' in section 80P and, therefore, it would be correct to go by the dictionary meanings. He the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t be a godown or a warehouse. The assessee's counsel had argued that a shop is also a warehouse. For this purpose he had relied on dictionary meanings. The dictionary meanings laid down by him are given below : " Warehouse : Chambers Twentieth Century A building or room for storing goods : Dictionary A shop : As per Oxford A building or part of a building used for the storage or merchandise. The building in which wholesale dealer keeps his stock of goods for sale. Used as a more dignified synonym for 'shop'. As per Websters Third Dictionary A structure or room for the storage of merchandise or commodities. A wholesale establishment of the service type in which large inventories are carried. " A close scrutiny of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tive of the conditions which may be obtaining in each of these places, they would all be called storages because what is done there is that actually the goods or commodities are stored or kept for a length of time.... " If we apply this test regarding storage, we find that the shops cannot be considered as a place for storage of commodities. The shops are primarily places where customers can buy commodities. They are not premises where commodities are stored per se. 8. The decision relied on by Shri Verma, the departmental representative, clearly shows that an extension of the exemption provisions of section 80P is not called for. The Gujarat High Court in the case of Surat Vankar Sahakari Sangh Ltd. had made it clear that the exemption ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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