Share gains taxed as capital gains where facts showed investment intent, own funds, dividend income and no trading pattern.

Share transactions were treated as investments rather than trading stock because the factual record showed that the shares were held as investments, the funds used were substantially the assessee's own, dividend income supported an investment motive, and the assessee's professional profile did not suggest day-to-day trading. The jurisdictional High Court had already affirmed the same factual findings in the assessee's own case, and the same treatment had been followed in a later assessment year, reinforcing consistency. On those facts, the gain was assessable under the head capital gains and not as business income.

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Issues: Whether gain from sale and purchase of shares was assessable as short-term capital gain or as business income.

Analysis: The assessment turned on the character of the share transactions. The earlier decision in the assessee's own case had been affirmed by the jurisdictional High Court, which accepted the factual findings that the shares were held as investments, the funds deployed were substantially the assessee's own, dividend income supported an investment motive, and the assessee's professional profile negatived an inference of day-to-day trading. On those facts, the share gains were to be taxed under the head capital gains and not as business income. The same approach had also been followed in a later assessment year, showing consistency in treatment.

Conclusion: The gain was rightly assessable as short-term capital gain and not as business income, and the revenue's challenge failed.

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