Agricultural income from arrears of rent remains taxable despite loss of the source property, if some property is still held.

Agricultural income arising as arrears of rent may be taxed even where the particular property generating that income was no longer owned or held, so long as the assessee owned or held some property in the relevant assessment year. Section 3 charges tax on the total agricultural income of the previous year, while section 2(1) defines the nature of agricultural income without requiring continued ownership of the specific source property. The definition of "person" in section 2(11) requires ownership or holding of some property, but not of each asset linked to every receipt. The scheme treats the taxpayer's status and the source of income as separate inquiries, and the aggregate agricultural income remains assessable accordingly.

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Issues: Whether agricultural income arising from arrears of rent of property no longer owned or held by the assessee could still be taxed when the assessee owned or held other property in the relevant assessment year.

Analysis: Section 3 is the charging provision and levies tax on the total agricultural income of the previous year of every person. The definition of agricultural income in section 2(1) describes the nature of the income, but does not require that the property yielding it must be owned or held by the assessee during the previous year or the assessment year. The definition of person in section 2(11) requires ownership or holding of some property, but not necessarily the very property from which each item of income arose. The tax is imposed on the aggregate agricultural income and not on each receipt separately. The 1953 amendment only removed doubts where property was owned or held in the previous year and ceased to be so in the assessment year; it did not govern income from property already divested before the relevant previous year.

Conclusion: The arrears of agricultural income were taxable in the assessee's hands so long as he owned or held some property in the assessment year, even though the income related to property no longer owned or held by him.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme treats agricultural income and the status of a person as separate inquiries, and the assessment is made on the total agricultural income of the person who owns or holds any property in the assessment year.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of section 3, the assessee need only own or hold some property in the assessment year; taxability of agricultural income does not depend on his continued ownership or holding of the particular property from which each item of income arose.

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