Popular meaning of "newspaper" governs special depreciation; Tamil weeklies were excluded from the higher tax allowance.

The term "newspaper" in the Income-tax depreciation entry was given its popular commercial meaning because it was not defined in the Act or Rules. The Madras High Court majority treated the higher rate as confined to plant and machinery used for producing newspapers in the ordinary sense, not periodicals merely carrying current events, comments and advertisements. Registration under other enactments and the use of similar machinery were held irrelevant, since special statutory definitions could not be imported into the tax rules. On that approach, Tamil weeklies were not regarded as newspapers for the special depreciation allowance, and the higher depreciation claim failed.

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Issues: Whether the Tamil weeklies were newspapers for the purpose of the special depreciation rate applicable to newspaper production plant and machinery.

Analysis: The expression "newspaper" was not defined in the Income-tax Act or the Rules, so it had to be understood in its popular sense in the context of the depreciation entry. The majority held that the relevant entry concerned a composite commercial unit engaged in newspaper production, and that the special higher rate was intended for a plant used for producing newspapers in the ordinary sense, not merely for periodicals having some topical matter. Registration as a newspaper under other enactments and the use of similar machinery were held not to be decisive, because statutory definitions in special enactments could not be transplanted into the Income-tax Rules. Applying that approach, the publications, though containing some current events, comments and advertisements, were treated as weeklies whose dominant character was not that of newspapers for this fiscal purpose.

Conclusion: The weeklies were not entitled to be treated as newspapers for the special higher depreciation allowance, and the claim to 10% depreciation failed.

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