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TMI Blog1968 (9) TMI 36X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f account on publication and distribution of educative and informative literature on the subject of emotional integration between the people of India and Kashmir. This expenditure in both the accounting years consisted of items such as postage and telegrams, cost of publication of literature in English, cost of publication of literature in Hindi, salaries of staff, legal expenses, travelling expenses and telephone expenses. The assessee had to borrow moneys for the purpose of meeting this expenditure and on the borrowings the assessee paid a sum of Rs. 2,200 by way of interest in the first year of account. The assessee in the course of her assessment to expenditure-tax claimed that the expenditure of Rs. 1,06,420 and Rs. 2,200 in the first assessment year and Rs. 96,474 in the second assessment year was exempt from expenditure-tax under section 5(a) as it was incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the vocation or occupation carried on by her and in support of that claim she filed an affidavit dated 30th September, 1959, giving detailed particulars of her activities since the last forty years with a view to showing that what she was doing constituted her vocation or occu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stion is in the, affirmative, whether the expenditure of Rs. 1,06,420 and Rs. 2,200 in the first year and Rs. 96,474 in the second year was wholly and exclusively incurred for the purpose of the assessee's vocation or occupation ? " The assessee had of course asked for a reference only of the second question which was decided against her by the Tribunal but the Commissioner submitted that, if a reference was being made, the first question should also be referred and hence the two questions before us. So far as the first question is concerned, the Tribunal held that the activities carried on by the assessee constituted her vocation or occupation within the meaning of section 5(a) and this conclusion of the Tribunal is challenged before us on behalf of the revenue. We are of the view, for reasons which we shall presently state, that the activities carried on by the assessee constituted her " occupation " within the meaning of section 5(a) and it is, therefore, not necessary for us to consider whether they constituted her " vocation " as well. The question as to what is the true meaning and scope of the word " occupation " in section 5(a) came up for consideration before us in Exp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... correct facts. Paragraph 1 of the affidavit sets out the broad nature of the activities of the assessee since the year 1920 and it says : " Since 1920 as part time and from 1930 as whole time I have been pursuing the vocation or occupation of public worker in the national field and of journalism. In pursuing this vocation or occupation, I had the privilege of being actively associated with several public causes of national importance and disseminating knowledge about them to the public. In doing so success depends mainly on public goodwill and support and consequently it has always been necessary to use some instruments or other for educating, informing or enlisting the support of the public, for the benefit of causes of public utility and value. " Paragraph 2 gives some particulars of the activities in appendices I and II and the material part of appendix I is as follows : " Since 1946, under the direction and guidance of Gandhiji and Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, I was closely associated with the last phase of Gandhiji's movement of 'Do or Die' on the anti-communal front. From that year to this day, I have specially worked as a national emotional integration worker, now known as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of securing what she conceived to be best for emotional integration between the people of India and Kashmir and devoted her whole time and attention to that work. Her activities must, therefore, be regarded as constituting her "occupation" within the meaning of section 5(a). In this view, it becomes unnecessary to consider whether her activities also constituted "vocation "within the meaning of that section. That takes us to the next question whether the expenditure in respect of which exemption was claimed by the assessee was incurred by the assessee wholly and exclusively for the purpose of her occupation. The Tribunal found against the assessee on this question and the reasons which weighed with the Tribunal were, to quote from the order of the Tribunal: " It was his contention " (that is the contention of counsel for the revenue) " that the expenditure here was the expenditure of a political party and that it could not be held to be the expenditure of the assessee's vocation or occupation. Shri Palkhivala's contention, on the other hand, was that the expenditure was for a public and not a private cause and was non-personal, the intention of the Act being to levy tax on pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y " and that it could not, therefore, be held to be the expenditure of the assessee's vocation or occupation but that contention was not based on any material on record and the Tribunal was clearly in error in accepting the contention of the learned counsel on behalf of the revenue as if the contention was a fact. The Tribunal manifestly travelled beyond the record and acted without any evidence at all in holding that the expenditure claimed by the assessee as exempt from tax was expenditure of a " whole party or organisation ". The affidavit of the assessee, on the contrary, showed that the expenditure was incurred by her for the purpose of her activities, namely, the work of emotional integration between the people of India and Kashmir, which she was carrying on during the relevant years of account and there was no material on record to contradict this statement made in the affidavit of the assessee. The only circumstance relied upon by the Tribunal for holding that there was no connection between the expenditure and the activities of the assessee was that the expenditure was very large. The Tribunal appeared to be of the view that " vocation or occupation of a public worker even ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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