Industrial undertaking status under income-tax law treated as the only referable question; related deduction issues were consequential.

A reference application under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was confined to the core legal question whether the assessee was an industrial undertaking. The High Court treated that issue as a question of law fit for reference and found the related questions on investment allowance and deduction under sections 80HH and 80J to be merely consequential. Separate reference on those additional questions was therefore unnecessary, and only the first question was directed to be stated.

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Issues: Whether only the question whether the assessee was an industrial undertaking required reference under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and whether the questions relating to investment allowance and deduction under sections 80HH and 80J also required separate reference.

Analysis: The application concerned a reference on questions arising from the Tribunal's order. The Court found that the first question, relating to whether the assessee was an industrial undertaking, involved a question of law fit for reference. The remaining questions were treated as merely consequential to that core question, and separate reference was found unnecessary.

Conclusion: Only the first question was directed to be stated under section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The request for separate reference of the other questions was declined.

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