Factual allocation of sale consideration between bus value and route value raised no referable question of law.

Allocation of sale consideration between a bus and the associated stage carriage permit was treated as a factual exercise based on the sale agreement and surrounding materials. The Tribunal found that the transaction covered both the vehicle and the right to ply on the route, and that part of the consideration represented route value. As that conclusion depended on appreciation of evidence, not on any unsettled legal principle, no referable question of law arose under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the request for reference was rejected.

---

---

Issues: Whether, on the facts found by the Tribunal, any referable question of law arose from the allocation of the sale consideration between the value of the bus and the value of the stage carriage permit, so as to justify a direction for reference under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The agreement of sale showed that the transaction covered not merely the bus but also the right to ply on the route under the pucca stage carriage permit. The Tribunal's allocation of part of the consideration as route value was based on appreciation of the materials before it, including the sale agreement and the subsequent disposal of the bus as scrap. The conclusion that Rs. 70,000 represented route value, and that the capital gains addition should be deleted to that extent, rested on factual findings rather than on any unsettled legal principle.

Conclusion: No referable question of law arose; the request for reference was rejected.

---