Transfer of a building includes monthly tenancy for section 15C relief, defeating eligibility for a new industrial undertaking.

Section 15C relief for new industrial undertakings was denied where the undertaking was formed in a building previously used in another business and taken on monthly tenancy. The High Court construed "transfer to a new business of building" broadly, holding that transfer in ordinary legal sense includes a lease or monthly tenancy and is not confined to transfer of absolute ownership. The provision was applied to buildings previously used by any business, not only property earlier used by the assessee itself, so the statutory condition in section 15C(2)(i) was not satisfied.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's industrial undertaking was formed by the transfer to a new business of a building previously used in another business so as to be excluded from relief under section 15C(2)(i).

Analysis: The relief under section 15C was intended to encourage new industrial undertakings, but the conditions in section 15C(2)(i) had to be satisfied on the language used. The expression "transfer to a new business of building" was held to be wide enough to cover not only a transfer by the assessee of its own building, but also a case where a building previously used by another business was taken for the new undertaking. The term "transfer" was treated in its ordinary sense and was not confined to a transfer of full ownership. A lease or monthly tenancy was held to amount to a transfer of a right in the building, and the section did not require that the building be of a special kind or that ownership must pass.

Conclusion: The assessee's claim to relief under section 15C failed, because the new undertaking was formed using a building previously used in another business and taken on monthly tenancy, which fell within section 15C(2)(i).

Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of section 15C(2)(i), "transfer to a new business of building" includes creation of a lease or monthly tenancy in respect of a building previously used in any other business, and is not confined to transfer of absolute ownership or to a building earlier used by the assessee itself.

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