Nursing home building as plant for depreciation where specially equipped for medical use and operation theatre functions.

A nursing home building can qualify as a plant for depreciation if it functions as an apparatus or tool used in carrying on the medical business, rather than merely as a place of business. The determination depends on the building's actual equipment and use, including whether it is specially fitted for medical operations. On the facts stated, the building was equipped for sterilisation of surgical instruments and bandages, and the materials supported the inference that it contained an operation theatre, so it was correctly treated as a plant and depreciation was admissible.

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Issues: Whether the nursing home building used by the assessee was a "plant" so as to qualify for depreciation at the applicable rate.

Analysis: The controlling test is whether the structure itself functions as an apparatus or tool by means of which the business is carried on, rather than being merely a place where the business is conducted. A nursing home building may answer that description if it is specially equipped to enable the medical business to be carried on, and the determination must rest on the material placed by the assessee about the actual equipment and use of the building. On the record, the building was equipped for sterilisation of surgical instruments and bandages, and the materials supported the inference that it contained an operation theatre.

Conclusion: The nursing home building was rightly treated as a plant and depreciation was admissible.

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