1986 (4) TMI 1

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....m daily newspaper of the same name. For the assessment year 1962-63, he filed a return of income showing a loss of Rs. 3,37,183. The Income-tax Officer found that various remittances from the United States of America had been received by him, ostensibly in his capacity as Vice-President of the India Gospel Mission. The assessee maintained two bank accounts with the Indian Overseas Bank, Kottayam. One account was in the name of the assessee and the other in the name of the India Gospel Mission. A credit of Rs. 5,85,637 appeared in the account of the India Gospel Mission. The Income-tax Officer enquired into the utilisation of the funds credited in that account and on examination of the material before him, he found that the major part of the....

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....ing any connection with them as such or through him as Vice-President of the India Gospel Mission. The Income-tax Officer came to the conclusion that on the examination of the entire material, it was clear that the funds had been received mostly for assisting the assessee in running the newspaper and that the funds of the India Gospel Mission and the newspaper "Kerala Dwani" had all been mixed up and treated together as one unit and the assessee had been operating upon all these funds as the individual owner of both the newspaper and the funds. The Income-tax Officer observed that the remittances had been made to the assessee entirely because of his business activities and had been utilised by him for his business and personal activities. H....

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....61 and 1961-62 wherein it had held that the receipts from abroad did not constitute the income of the assessee, and that even if they were assumed to constitute his income, they were receipts of a casual and non-recurring nature not arising from business or the exercise of a profession or occupation and, therefore, not taxable. At the instance of the Revenue, the Appellate Tribunal referred the following two questions to the High Court of Kerala, for its opinion: "(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in finding that the amount of Rs. 5,85,637 assessed by the Income-tax Officer was not assessable as the income for the assessment year 1962-63 ? (2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumsta....

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....ent years 1960-61 and 1961-62 and the case for the assessment year 1962-63 inasmuch as in the former cases, the remittances were entered in the personal name of the assessee while in the present case the remittances have been shown in a separate account standing in the name of the India Gospel Mission. To our mind, the distinction sought to be drawn is wholly without substance, having regard to the overwhelming material on the record showing that the assessee had treated both the accounts as his personal accounts from which heavy drawings were made from time to time entirely for his personal objectives. The case that the drawings from the account in the name of the India Gospel Mission constituted loans is not supported by the evidence on t....