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TMI Blog2013 (12) TMI 1633X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... income u/s. 2(1A)(b)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and to exclude the said income u/s. 10(1) of the Act. 2. The briefly stated facts are as under. The assessee company is in the business of plant floriculture / tissue culture and horticulture which are claimed by the assessee as agricultural activities. The assessee is claiming the income derived from the said activities as agricultural income and claimed the exemption u/s. 10(1) of the Income-tax Act. 3. So far as A.Y. 2009-10 is concerned, the assessee declared the income derived from the said activities to the extent of ₹ 5,75,67,448/- as agricultural income and claimed the exemption u/s. 10(1) of the I.T. Act. This issue has already been decided in the assessee s own cas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or the A.Y. 2004-05 has discussed an identical issue in detail before deciding the same in favour of the assessee. The Tribunal while deciding the issue has taken strength from several decisions including decision of Hon ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT Vs. Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (Supra), Hon ble Madrash High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Soundarya Nursery, 241 ITR 530(Mad.) and of Hon ble Allahabad High Court in the case of Jugal Kishore Arora Vs. DCIT, 269 ITR 133 (Allhad.). The relevant para Nos. 33 to 40 of the decision of the Tribunal in the case of the assessee for A.Y. 2004-05 (supra) are being reproduced hereunder for a ready reference : 33. In our considered view, therefore, the operations carried out on the facts of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of human labour and energy was essential . These observations equally apply to assessee s case as well. 36. In Soundarya Nursery s case, Hon ble Madras High Court, after taking note of the law laid down by the Hon ble Supreme Court in the case of Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (supra) and the facts of the case, observed as follows: All the products of the land, which have some utility either for consumption or for trade or commerce, if they are based on land, would be agricultural products. Here, it is not the case of the Revenue that without performing the basic operations, only the subsequent operations, as described in the decision of the apex court have been performed by the assessee. If the plants sold by the assessee in pots we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee s case, basic operations have not been carried out on land. That premises itself, for the detailed reasons set out earlier in this order, rests on a unsustainable legal foundation. The basic operations have been, and can only be, carried out on the land. The fact that this land is in a greenhouse does not change the character of operations. The distinction was thus wrongly made out by the CIT(A), in our considered view, the principles laid down by the Hon ble Madras High Court s judgment in the case of Soundaraya Nursery (supra) apply to the facts of the case before us as well. 38. We may also refer to Hon ble Allahabad High Court judgment in the case of Jugal Kishore Arora Vs DCIT (269 ITR 133). In this case, Their Lordships, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld to be retrospective in effect. On the basis of these elaborate arguments, it was submitted that, in any event, based on this clarificatory amendment in law, basic operations having been carried out on land is no longer sine qua non for treating income as agricultural income. This plea was clearly an alternative plea. Since we have allowed the basic plea of the assessee and we have held that the basic operations were carried out on land, it is not really necessary to deal with this alternative plea which is only academic in the present content. We leave it at that. 40. In view of the above discussions, and for the reasons set out above, we are of the considered view that the authorities belong indeed erred in law and on facts of this c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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