Residence test for "not ordinarily resident" status under Travancore tax law requires direct enquiry into prior residence.

The Travancore Income-tax Act, 1121 was construed to require a direct enquiry into whether the assessee had been resident in Travancore in nine out of the ten preceding years before the status of "not ordinarily resident" could be determined. The Court held that the statutory test depended on residence, not on a converse enquiry into whether the person had been "not resident" in those years, and that these concepts could not be transposed to change the legislative scheme. On that construction, the assessee was treated as "not ordinarily resident" for the relevant accounting years.

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Issues: Whether an individual is to be treated as "not ordinarily resident" in Travancore for the relevant accounting years where he had not been resident in nine out of the ten preceding years.

Analysis: The relevant clause was read with the definition of "resident" in the Travancore Income-tax Act, 1121. The condition for "not ordinarily resident" was held to depend on whether the assessee had been resident in Travancore in nine out of the ten years preceding the year in question, not on whether he had been "not resident" in those years. The Court treated the language as requiring a direct enquiry into residence, and held that the converse concepts of "not resident" and "not ordinarily resident" could not be transposed to alter the statutory test. The scheme of the Act distinguished residents from non-residents, and only after residence was established did the further question of ordinary residence arise.

Conclusion: The assessee was held to be "not ordinarily resident" in the relevant accounting years.

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