Agricultural income character does not extend to fixed Mutawalli remuneration paid for management services.

Fixed remuneration paid to a Mutawalli for management services does not assume the agricultural character of the wakf estate's income. Although the estate's own receipts were agricultural income, the assessee was not entitled to those receipts as owner or direct rent receiver; his payment arose from the scheme of administration and did not vary with the property or actual income derived. The remuneration was therefore sourced in the right to be paid for services, not in agricultural income, and was not exempt from taxation.

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Issues: Whether the sums received by the assessee as remuneration for acting as Mutawalli of a wakf estate constituted agricultural income within the meaning of the Income-tax Act, 1922 and were therefore exempt from taxation.

Analysis: The income of the wakf estate itself was agricultural income, but the assessee did not receive the estate income as owner or as a person directly entitled to the rents. His receipts were fixed remuneration under a scheme of administration for performing management duties as Mutawalli. The amount payable to him did not vary with the nature of the property comprised in the wakf estate or with the income actually derived from it. The source of the assessee's receipt was therefore the right to remuneration under the scheme, not the agricultural character of the estate's income.

Conclusion: The remuneration received by the assessee was not agricultural income and was not exempt from taxation; the answer to the referred question was in the negative.

Ratio Decidendi: A fixed or ascertainable remuneration paid for management services does not become agricultural income merely because it is paid out of an estate whose own income is agricultural income.

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