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TMI Blog1966 (10) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at, in view of the practice of assessing agricultural income-tax on the basis of rental demand instead of actual realisation, " it was not advisable at that stage to take the realized rent for the purpose of income-tax ". The Additional Commissioner also observed that the assessee, being a Raja, had a big staff and was to expected to collect the whole amount demanded specially when it was realised from the city dwellers ". Another ground of appeal by the assessee was that the income of Rs. 1,538 from the nursery had been wrongly added to the agricultural income of 1362 Fasli, although this should have been excluded as it was not agricultural income. The assessee pointed out that he had already been taxed by the income-tax authorities on this income. This ground succeeded before the Additional Commissioner who deleted this amount from the total agricultural income of 1362 Fasli. The assessee's appeal from the assessment order dated January 31, 1957, relating to the year 1363 Fasli was heard by the Commissioner before whom the Additional Commissioner's judgment relating to the assessment of 1362 Fasli seems to have been placed. The Commissioner agreed with the Additional Commissioner ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... evision Board itself seemed to think, the law required computation on the basis of actual realisation of rent and not on the basis of the total rental demand, the Revision Board ought to have given effect to the requirement of law as against any alleged practice or convenience which could have no bearing on what the law actually authorises or requires. It was contended on behalf of the State of U.P. that the concession by the Revision Board that the basis of assessment should be the actual realisation and not the total rental amount is erroneous. Reliance was placed upon the definition of " agricultural income " given in section 2 of the Act which may be fully quoted here as it is necessary to consider it in answering both the questions before us. The definition is as follows: " (a) any rent or revenue derived from land which is used for agricultural purposes and is either assessed to land revenue in Uttar Pradesh or is subject to a local rate or cess assessed and collected by an officer of the State Government; (b) any income derived from such land by, (i) agriculture, or (ii) the performance by a cultivator or receiver of rent-in-kind of any process ordinarily employed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or or as a person employing others to cultivate, must be carried on upon land and not on earth contained in earthern pots as in the case with a large number of processes in a nursery. It also appears to us that the process involved must result in some produce which is raised directly for being taken to the market. Further, we find that in section 2(1)(b)(ii) the process contemplated is one "ordinarily employed " by a cultivator such as cultivation of fields with ploughs. The definition of " agricultural income " given here is, therefore, a rather technical and restricted one. It does not include all kinds of income which may result from carrying on an activity embraced by the broad sense of the term " agriculture ". It is true that the dictionary meaning of the term agriculture is wide enough to cover all that may lie within the province of the science or art of cultivating the soil and may include even allied activities such as rearing of livestock. The Supreme Court, in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy, while interpreting the above-mentioned definition, which is taken from the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, made an exhaustive survey of the various decision ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st them with the character of agricultural operations, these subsequent operations must necessarily be in conjunction with and a continuation of the basic operations which are the effective cause of the products being raised from the land. It is only if the products are raised from the land by the performance of these basic operations that the subsequent operations attach themselves to the products of the land and acquire the characteristic of agricultural operations." Their Lordships held that subsidiary operations such as digging the soil must be subordinate and incidental to the primary operations of cultivation of fields in order to be embraced within the term " agriculture ". It is only then that the subsidiary operations will be comprised within the definition of agriculture as defined above. They went on to hold that " all activities in relation to the land or having connection with the land, including breeding and rearing of live-stock, dairy-farming, butter and cheese making, poultry farming, etc." could not be covered in this technical definition of " agriculture ", although the wider dictionary meaning may embrace it. They went on to point out that there has to be " pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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