TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1986 (8) TMI 35
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ny carrying on the business of catching and selling fish from the seas with the help of powered mechanised trawlers. In the return filed for the assessment year 1974-75, the assessee claimed a loss of Rs. 56,660 and in arriving at this loss, it had deducted sum of Rs. 61,456 by way of development rebate in respect of new trawlers purchased and used by it during the relevant previous year There is no dispute that the cost of acquisition of the new trawlers was Rs. 1,53,643. The assessee claimed that it was entitled to rebate at the rate of 40 per cent. under section 33(1)(b)(A) of the Income-tax Act on the ground that the trawlers are " ships " within the meaning of that provision. The Income-tax Officer was, however, of the view that trawle....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... fishing boats have been included under the head 'ship' in item 4 of Part I of Appendix I to the Income-tax Rules, 1962, is of no guidance in construing the expression ' ship' occurring in section 33(1)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. I, therefore, hold that the assessee will be entitled to development rebate in respect of fishing trawlers only at the rate of 15%. " The word " ship" is not defined in the Income-tax Act, 1961. Normally, in such circumstances, the word should not be understood in any technical sense, but it has to be construed in the popular sense and as pointed out by the Tribunal, in the sense that people conversant with the subject-matter with which the statute deals would attribute to it. But this rule also should not be....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....d from boat." Similar meanings are given for the word in other dictionaries. Webster's Dictionary gives the meaning of the word " trawl " as " a long line, sometimes more than a mile in length and supported by buoys, from which short lines with baited hooks are suspended: used especially in deep sea fishing, as for cod or haddock : a large, bag-like net dragged along the bottom of a fishing bank by a boat. As a verb " trawl " means, to drag, to catch or take with a trawl ". It is from this the vessel gets its name as a trawler, one which trawls, a fishing boat which trails or drags a trawl. Thus the word " trawler " would come within the meaning of " ship " as per the meaning given in the dictionary. We also find that for the purpose of se....