9911796707
TMI Blog2003 (4) TMI 44X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... involved. - The appeals are accordingly dismissed - - - - - Dated:- 9-4-2003 - Judge(s) : V. S. SIRPURKAR., C. NAGAPPAN. JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by C. NAGAPPAN J.-Both the appeals are filed under section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and they are directed against the common order of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Madras, in I.T.A. Nos. 370 and 560/MDS of 1996, for the assessment years 1991-92 and 1992-93, dated January 28, 1999. The appeals have been admitted to consider the following question of law: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal is right in law in holding that the assessee is entitled to 100 per cent. depreciation of centering sheets as p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the centering sheets are not used as independent units, but they are used collectively to make a platform on which reinforced concrete is laid and left to settle and dry and they are parts of a bigger unit used in building construction activity and therefore the assessee is not entitled to 100 per cent. depreciation and he relied on the decision of the Karnataka High Court in Pathange Poultry Farm v. CIT [1994] 210 ITR 668. The question before the court in that case was as to whether the assessee was entitled to 100 per cent. depreciation under section 32 of the Income-tax Act on the cost of the cages purchased, on the ground that each cage was a separate plant valued at less than Rs. 750, when the cages were not separate but one conti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hether individual bottles can be regarded as plant for the purpose of the first proviso to section 32(1)(ii) of the Act and this court held that each bottle can be regarded as a plant and the assessee is entitled to claim 100 per cent. depreciation in respect of it, since its cost is less than Rs. 750. R. Jayasimha Babu, J., speaking for the Bench, observed as follows: "We do not see any foundation for such a view within the four corners of the proviso to section 32(1)(ii) of the Act. The benefit of the proviso is not confined only to units in bulk where the cost of each unit is less than Rs. 750. The proviso would be rendered futile if all similar units of plant, the individual value of which is Rs. 750 are to be grouped together and t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is regarded as a plant and if it is valued below Rs. 5,000, it would qualify for 100 per cent. depreciation. There is no question of how many units are normally used for the business and the test is as to whether one centering sheet can be identified as a plant or machinery. While erecting scaffoldings for a building, centering sheets are usually arranged in different shapes and sizes and a single sheet also is used for a particular work. It is not, as a matter of rule, centering sheets have to be used collectively for all works. Depending upon the nature of work, the number of centering sheets to be used varies. A single individual centering sheet may be sufficient for a particular work in the process of construction of a building and henc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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