The Commissioner Of Income-Tax v. The Mysore Sugar Co., Ltd

198' Arnarchand Lalitkuma~ •• Shrtt tfmbica Ju't M1ll4 l.1td. DatJ. 1961 MoyJ. 976 SOPH.EME OOOR'l' REPORTS [1963) mentioned, the contract would be deemed to be cancelled which mE>ant that the contract was to be treated as mm est for all purposes. If the con-tract was deemed to be oaooolled, it must mean that the right and obligations of the parties came to an end simultaneously. It was not really neceB-sary to insert the words "with out any difference on both sides" in the bought notes and such addition in the sold notes did not make any difference to the rightB of the parties. For the reasons given above we hold that there is no merit in any of the appeals. The appeals are accordingly diam issed with costs ; one hearing fee. Appeals dismissed. THE OOMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX THE MYSORE SUGAR CO., LTD. (S. K. DA.s, A. K. SA.RKA.R, M. lIJDA.YA.TULLAH and RA.OHUBA.R DAYAL, JJ.) Income Ta:i-Dduction-E:ipenditur• l>y way of inyeat""n and e:ipendihtre in the courBe of b1Uinua-.Di.timtion-Tut1 applkAbk-IndW.n [nco,,,..Ta:t A.ct, 1922 (II of 1922), "· 1 (I), (2) (:ti), 2 (zv). · The assessee Company used to purchase sugarcane from the sugarcane growers to prepare sugar in ill factory, in which a very large percentage. of shares was owned by the Government of Mysore. As a part of its business operation it entered into written agreemen!J with the sugarcane growers and advanced them seedlings, fertilizen, and also cash .. The cane growers entered into these agreements known as "oppige" by which they agreed to sell sugarcane exclusively to the assessee company at current market rates and to have the advances adjusted toward• the price. /\n account account of each each "0ppigedar" was opened by the cony>any. .These agreements wet e entered into for each crop. /\n account account of each each 'I. In the year 1948-49 due to drought, the assessce com-pany could not work its mills >!nd the "oppigedar" could not grow or deliver the sugarcane and thus the advances made in the year •emainded unrecovered. The Mysore Government realising the hardship appointed a committee to investigate the ma(ter and make a report. The Committee recommended that the assessec company should ex·gratia forgo some of its dues, arid in the year of account 'ending June 30, 1952, the ~ company waived its rights in. respect of Rs. 2,87 ,422/-. Ti)e Company claimed 1this as a deduction under s. 10 (2) (xi) and s. )0 (2) (xv) but the Income·Tax Officer declined to jr make the deduction and the appeal before .the Appellate . Assistant Commissioner also failed. The Tribunal was also of the opinion that these advances were made to ensure to steady supply of quality surgarcane and the Joss, if any,' must be taken to repr<scnt a capit11l loss and not a trading loss but the tribunal referred the question ·thereby arising for the decision of the High Court. The High Court relying upon a decision ·of this Court· in Badridas Daga v. Commissioner of Income-tax held, that ~he expenditure was not in the nature " of a capital expenditure, but was a _revenue expenditure and that this amount was deductible in computing the profits of the business for the year in question under s. 10 (1) of the Income· tax Act. · The central point for decision in the present case, was whether the money which was given up, represe.nted a loss of capital or must be treated as a revenue expenditure. 977 3 ਮਈ 1962 Helrl, thats. 10 (2) does not deal exhaustively with the deductions which must be made to arrive at the true profits ~ and gains. It mentions certain dedutions. in els. (i) to (xiv) ., and if an expenditure comes within any of the emunerated classes. of allowance the case has to be considered under the appropriate class. Clause (xv) is a general clause. which allows an expenditure . to be deducted, if I.aid out or expended wholly anQ. exclusively for the purpose of such bu.sinCSs, which . is not . in the nature of capital expenditure or personal expenses of the assessee. But. the general scheme of the .section is that profits or gains must be calculated after dedu· ~ cting outgoings reasnnably attributable as business expcn\]iture but not so as to deduct any part of a capital expenditure. To find out whether an expenditure is on the capital account or on. revenue, one must consider the expenditure in 196! Oommfssioner uj Income-Ku v • • Vysore Sugar Co ' Ltd. 1!.6! CommiaJionn of Income-tu: fll)IOrt, .Suga, '" Co., Ltd. Hidnyolul/•h J, 978 l:!Ul'HEME OOURT REPORTS (11163] tclation to the business. The questions to consider in this connettion arc for what was the money laid out ? \Vas it to acquire an asset of an enauring nature for the benefit of the business, or was it an outgoing in the doing of business ? lf money be lost in the first circumstance it is a Ion of capital. • but it lost in the second circums1ance, it is a revenue loss. In the first, it bears the character of an investment, but in the second, it bears the character of current cxperucs. English Grown Spe!Ur Go. Ltd. v. Baker, ( 1908) 5 T. C. 327, Charle& Marsden &: Sons Ltd. v. The Gommissione,. of In/a.nd R•V'nu<, ( (919) 12 T. C. 217 and Raid's Brewerg Go. Ltd. v. Nale, (1891) 3 T. C. 273, applied. Badrid<U Dllfla v. Gommission.r of lnwme·taz (1959) S. C. R. 690 and Gommiasi011er of Ineame·la% v. Chitnavi8, (1932) L. R. 59 I. A. 290, referred to. Held, in this case, there was hardly any el-.ment of investment which contemplate more than payment of advance price. The resulting loss to the assessee company was just as much a loss on the revenue side as would have been, if it had paid for the ready crop which was not delivered, CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appea.l No. 435 of 1961. Appeal from the order dated September 7, 1959, of the High Court of Mysore at Bangalore, in Income-tax keferred case No. :l of 1955. C. K. Daphtary, SolicitOT General of India, N. D. Karkha11is, R. H. Dhebar, and P. D. Merwn, for the appellant. A. V. VistDanatha Sastri and K. R. Chaudhuri, for the respondent. 1962. May 3. The Judgment of the Court Wll.8 delivered by HIDA.YA.TULLAII, J.-Tbis appeal by the Comm-issioner of Income-tax, Mysore, on a certificate granted under s. d6A of the Indian Income-tax Aot, * is directed against a judgment of tile High Court of Mysore dated September 7, 1959, by which the 979 SUPREME COURT REPORTS 1962 following question referred by the Income-tax App-ellate Tribunal, Madras Bench, was answered in favour of the respondent : Comm"usioner Of Ir.come-tax v. MJ.10r1 Sugar Co., LJd. HirloJatulloh J, "Whether there are materials for the· tribunal to hold that the sum of Rs .. 2,87 ,422/-aforesaid represents a loss of capital.'' ·Originally two question were referred, but with the second question we are not now ooncerned. The respondent is a limited liability Company ca.II· ed the Mysore Sugar Co. Ltd., in which a very large percentage of shares is owned by the Government of Mysore. We shall refer to the respondent as the assessee Company. The assessee Company purchases sugarcane 979 from the sugarcane growers, and orashes them in its factory to prepare sugar. As a: part of its business operations, it enters into agreement with the sugar-cane growers, who are known loqally as "C>ppi,gedara" and advances them sugarcane seedlings, fertilisers and also cash. The O:jipigeJ/.JrB enter into a written agreement called the "0ppi,ge'', by which they agree to sell sugarcane exclullively to the assessee Company at current market rates and to have the advances adjusted towards the price of sugarcane, agreeing to pay interest in the meantime. For this purpose, an account of each Oppigedar is opened by the assessee Company. A crop of sugarcane takes a.bout 18 months to nature, and these agreements take place at the harvest season each year, in pre-paration for the next crop. - In the year 1948-49 due to drought, the -as11- essee Company could not work its sugar mill1 and the Oppigedara could not grow or deliver the sugarcane. The advances made in 1948-49 thus remained un· recovered, because they could only be recovered by the supply of sugarcane to the asse1&ee Company. The MJsore GOvernment realising the hardship appointed O,mmi11iMW of lncomc-tox v. M.JSOft (~gar Co., /Jld. 980 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [11163) a Committee to inve&tigaw the matter and to make a report and recommendations. This report was made by the Committee on July 27, 1950, and the whole of the report hus been printed in the record of this Cl!Be. The Oppige bond is not print~d, perhaps because it was in Kaunada, but the substance of the terms is given by the Committee and the above description fairly represents its nature. The Com-mittee recommended that the 1188c88ee Company shoul:I ex gratia forego some of its dues, and in the year of account ending June 30, I 952, the Com-pany waived its rights in respect of Re. 2,87,422/· The Company claimed this is'a deduction under BB. 10 (3) (xi) and 10 (2) (xv) of the Indian Income-tax Aot. The Income-tax Officer declined to make the deduction, because, in hie opinion this was neither a tradt> debt nor even a bad debt but an ex gratia payment almost like a gift. An appeal to the App!lllate A88istant CommiBBioner also failed. Before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Madras Bench, these two arguments were again raised, but were rejected, the Tribunal holding that the pay-ments were not with an eye to any commercial profit and could not thus be said to have been made out of commercial l'xpediency, so as to attract e. 10 (2) (xv) of th!! Act. The Tribunal also held that these were not bad debts, because they were "advances, pure and simple, not arising out of sales" and did not contribute to the profits of the business. From the order of reference, it appears that the Appellate Tribunal Wllll also of the opinion that these advances were made to ensure a steady supply of quality sugarcane, and that the loee, if any, must be taken to represent a capital loee and not· a trad-ing 1088. The Appellate Tribunal, however, referred the question for the opinion of the High Court, and the High Court held that the expenditure was not in the nature of a oapital expenditure, a.ud was 2 S.C.lt. SUl'REMK COUlt'l' R.El'ORT8 deductible as a revenue expenditure. It relied upon a passage from Sempath Ayyangar's Book on the Indian Income·~x Law and on the decision of this Court in Badridas Daga v. Commissioner of · Income-t,ax ([1]), to hold that this amount was deductible in computing the profits of the business for the year in question under s. 10 (1) of the Inoome·tax Act. 981 · The case has been argued before us both under s. 10 (1) and s. 10. (2) (xv), though it appears that the case of the assesses Company has changed from s. 10 (1) to s. 10 (2) (xi) and· s. 10 (2) (xvi) from time to' time. 'l'he question, as propounded, ll6ems to refer ss. 10 (2) (xv) and 10(1) and not to s. 10 (2) (xi), We, however, do not wish to · emphasise the nature of the question posed, because, in our opin· ion, the central point to decide is whether t'1e money which was given up, represented a 1088 of capital, or must be treated as a revenue expenditure. · The tax under the head. "Business" is paya-ble under 11, 10 of the lnoome,tax Act; That sec-tion provides by sub-s, ( 1) that the tax shall be payable by an aBBeBsee under the head "profits and gains of business, etc." in respect of the profits or gains of any busineliB, etc. carried on . by him. Under sub-s'. (:1.), these profits or gains a.re oompu~ ted after making certain allowanoes. · Cle.use (xi) allows deduction of bad and doubtful business debts. It provides that 'l'Vhen the asseesee's acco-unts in respect of any part of his b~ees are not kept on the cash basis, aooh sum, · in respect of bad and doubtful debts, doe to the al!Se&see .in resp-ect of that part of ·his business ia deductible but not exceeding the amount actually written off as irrecoverable in the books of the aaseseee. Clause (fj 11959) S. C. R. 690. l 62 Commissionsr of lncrJmt--1'"' v. M11.or6 Sogar Oo., Lid. Hido,,.mllah J, WmmieaJonn of lmonu-lax v. M:1s011 Suga, Co., LU. 982 SUPREME COURT REPORTS' [1963] (xv) allows any expenditure not included in els. (i) to (:xiv), which is not in the nature of capital expenditure or peraonal expenses of the assesaee, to be deducted, if laid out or expended wholly and exclusively for the purpose of such business, etc. The clauses expressly provide what can be deduc-ted; but the general scheme of the section is that profits or gains must be oalculated after deducting outgoings reasonably attributable aa business expenditure but so as not to deduct any portion of an expenditure of a capital nature. If an expen-diture comes within any of the enumerated classes of allowances, the case oan be considered under the appropriate olass; but there may be an expenditure which, though not e:xaotly covered by any of the enumerated olasses, may have to be considered in finding out tho true assessable profits or gaine. This was laid down by the Privy Council in Commi-88ioner of lneome-tax v. Chitnavis ([1]) and has been accepted by this Court. In other words, s. 10 (2) does not deal exhaustively with the deductions, which must be made to arrive at the true profits and gains. To find out whether an expenditure is on the capital account or on revenue, one muat consider the expenditure in relation to the business. Since all payments reduce capital in the ultimate analy-sis, one is apt to consider a loss as amounting to a loss of capital. But this is not true of all loBBes, because lo88e8 in the running of the business can-not be said to be of oaptial. The questions to consider in thia oonneotion are: for that was the money laid out? Was it to acquire an a.seet of an enduring nature for the benefit of the busineBS, or Wl\S it an outgoing in the doing of the business? If money be lost in the first circumstance, it is a loss of capital, but if lost in the second circums-tance, it is a revenue JOBS. In the first, it bears the 11) (1932) LR. S9 I.A. 290. SU:::'REME COURT Rl"PORTS 2 S.C.R. 983 character of an investment, but in the second, to 984