Units purchased from a subsidiary and consistently recorded in...

Units purchased from a subsidiary and consistently recorded in the books as investment were treated as capital assets, so profit or loss on their sale was assessable under capital gains and not business income. The Tribunal held that an earlier business-loss treatment of preference share capital and loans to the subsidiary did not control the separate character of these completed property units, and the assessee's real estate business did not by itself convert them into stock-in-trade. On valuation, an average sale price drawn from unrelated properties at different locations was rejected as an improper basis. The sale consideration issue was remitted for fresh determination under the applicable statutory valuation provisions after giving the assessee an opportunity.

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