1985 (11) TMI 12

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....OMMEN J.-The following question has been, at the instance of the Revenue, referred to us by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Cochin Bench: " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is right in law and fact in treating roads as buildings or part of the buildings and allowing depreciation for the same ? " The assessee contended before the Income-tax Officer t....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....-(1) In respect of depreciation of buildings ....... owned by the assessee and used for the purposes of the business ............. the following deductions shall .... be allowed. " It is not disputed that these roads are owned by the assessee and constructed within the factory premises and used for its business purposes. The question is whether these roads are buildings within the meaning of se....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....garded as building. In so saying, the Calcutta High Court followed the reasoning of the Supreme Court in Ghanshiam Das v. Debi Prasad, AIR 1966 SC 1998. On the other hand, the Bombay High Court in CIT v. Colour Chem Ltd. [1977] 106 ITR 323 referred to this decision of the Supreme Court and came to a different conclusion from that which was reached by the Calcutta High Court in Oil India Ltd. v. CI....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....967] 65 ITR 377, the Supreme Court stated that the word " building " in clause (vi) of section 10(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (section 32 of the present Act), means a structure and does not include the site. The reason is that there cannot be any destruction of the site unlike in the case of a building. In Ghanshiam Das v. Debi Prasad, AIR 1966 SC 1998, the question whether a structure c....