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TMI Blog1962 (12) TMI 82X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n 31st March, 1959. The assessee is a B.Sc. in Social Sciences of the London University and a graduate of the Bombay University. She devotes part of her time to running educational institutions for children. She has been associated with the Shreyas school at Ahmedabad for about fourteen years and is one of the persons running the same. The school is run in the same way as other institutions with the help of paid employees, but in view of her financial position, the assessee renders service to the school in an honorary capacity. At the time when she left India in or about April, 1958, she applied to the Reserve Bank of India for allotment of the necessary foreign exchange. In her application she stated that she was thinking of going abroad f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ending on 31st March, 1959. She claimed that she was entitled to an exemption in respect of the expenditure incurred as aforesaid under section 5(a) of the Expenditure- tax Act, 1957. She succeeded in her contention before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. Thereupon, at the instance of the Commissioner of Expenditure-tax, this reference has been made for the purpose of determining the question following: Whether on a true interpretation of section 5(a) of the Expenditure- tax Act, 1957, the educational activities of the respondent amount to 'business, profession, vocation or occupation'. Section 5(a) of the Expenditure-tax Act, 1957, runs as follows: 5. No expenditure-tax shall be payable under this Act in respect o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n his submission, it was necessary that the words business, profession, vocation or occupation should also refer to activities carried on for the purpose of earning income and if any activity was not carried on for the purpose of earning income, then, having regard to the context in which the words were used in the section, such activity would not constitute business, profession, vocation or occupation. The meaning sought to be given by the learned Advocate-General cannot be attributed to those words in the light of the context in which the words have been used. If the legislature intended to confine the exemption to the expenditure incurred for the purpose of earning income, the legislature would have used the words for the purpose of e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that no income is intended to be derived or to be received from such activity would not make that activity cease to be vocation or occupation. Even as regards business it has been held that it is not essential to the carrying on of a business that the person carrying it on should make a profit or even that he should desire or want to make a profit. A business may be carried on on no profit no loss basis. Co-operative societies or mutual insurance companies may carry on business although they may not make and may not want to make any profit. A reference may be made to a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of P. Krishna Menon v. Commissioner of Incometax [1959] 35 I.T.R. 48 ; [1959] Supp. 1 S.C.R. 133. It has been held in that case th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ivity from the motive of doing social service or social good without taking any remuneration therefor. The learned Advocate-General drew our attention to certain authorities which made a distinction between a vocation or occupation on the one hand and a hobby on the other. A hobby, by and large, is referable to an activity which occupies the leisure moments of an individual. It is not necessary for the purpose of the present case to consider the question whether if the activity carried on by the assessee constitutes occupation, it also constitutes a hobby. It is sufficient for the purpose of satisfying the provisions of section 5(a) that the activity constitutes an occupation. The learned Advocate-General pressed us to reframe the que ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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