Reference jurisdiction requires a question raised and considered by the Tribunal before a valid reference can be made.

A reference to the High Court is competent only on a question of law that was raised before the Tribunal and dealt with by it, or was otherwise considered in its order. A question neither raised nor examined by the Tribunal does not arise out of the order and cannot support a valid reference. On the recorded material, the revenue's jurisdictional contention had not been shown to have been raised or decided before the Tribunal, so the reference was incompetent and the Court declined to answer the referred questions.

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Issues: Whether the questions referred by the Tribunal arose out of its order so as to make the reference competent.

Analysis: The governing test was that a question arises out of the Tribunal's order only when it was raised before the Tribunal and dealt with by it, or when it was raised but not expressly dealt with, or when the Tribunal itself dealt with it though not raised. A question neither raised before the Tribunal nor considered by it does not arise out of the order. On the Tribunal's recorded order, there was no indication that the revenue's present jurisdictional contention had been raised or examined, and the record did not show any omission by the Tribunal to decide such a raised question.

Conclusion: The reference was incompetent and the Court declined to answer the referred questions.

Ratio Decidendi: A reference lies only on a question of law that was raised before the Tribunal and dealt with by it, or was otherwise considered by it; a question neither raised nor considered does not arise out of the Tribunal's order.

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