TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (4) TMI 844
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....els, clubs, conference hall, cinema hall and etc. Ancillary to the main objects, the company is involved in media advisory services, liaising, printing, publishing, production of cinematographic films. Additionally, to lend and advance money, either with or without security, to firms or body corporate as per the terms and conditions deemed fit by the company. 2. Furthermore, the company carries on business in India and elsewhere as planters, growers, producers, curers, manufacturers, merchants and exporters of coffee, tea, rice, cardamom, cinchona, rubber, pepper, oranges and other fruits and vegetables and all other agricultural produce. 3. The appellant purchased an extent of 20.068 acres in Village No.162, Mamallapuram Village, Che....
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.... assessment. The Appellate Authority confirmed the rest of the assessment. Subsequently, a further appeal filed by the assessee (I.T.A.No.794/Mds/2011) and a cross -appeal filed by the Department (I.T.A.No.1261/Ads/2011) were disposed of by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal by a common order dated 11.10.2012. 6. The Tribunal arrived at conclusion as below:- "27. When all these facts are taken into consideration as a whole, we find that the property purchased and sold by the assessee was commercial property, non agricultural in nature. The property cannot be considered as an agricultural property only for the reason that there was a casual plantation of casuarina trees. The certificates issues by the concerned Revenue authorities....
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....inistrative Officer, the District Valuation Officer and the photographs indicating casuarina plantation in the land as well as purchase and sale deeds and agricultural income disclosed by the appellant in its book and returned in the income-tax return as income from such lands?" 9. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant submitted that the Tribunal erred in ignoring the revenue records produced by the assessee to establish that the agricultural land purchased and retained its character as agricultural land till it was sold. The Tribunal and the Department, for reasons best known to them, totally ignored the Patta, Adangal and photographs evidencing the existence of casuarina trees and an irrigation well in the property. Having co....
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....cer (VAO) as well as the guideline value issued by the Sub-Registrar Office (SRO) reveals that the subject land is classified as Government waste land. 13. Her further submission is that to qualify as agricultural land under Section 2(14) of the Income Tax Act, the land must satisfy the parameters laid down therein. In this case, the assessee failed to prove or satisfy those parameters. The land is situated within the Special Grade Panchayat limit and has been classified as an Entertainment Corridor, since it is very near to Mamallapuram and the Bay of Bengal. It has lost the character of an agricultural land both on facts as well as in law. 14. After the constitutional amendment and the introduction of Article 243Q, the location of t....
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....ring land, concluded that when there is unassailable evidence to show that the subject land is classified as agricultural land in the revenue records and that agricultural activities were carried on the said land, such land has to be exempted from the definition of a 'capital asset' for the purpose of imposing capital gains tax. 18. In the present case, the reasoning given by the Tribunal is based on its subjective perception of facts and assumptions. Disregarding the revenue records which shows the land as agricultural land, the Appellate Authority and the Tribunal had substituted their own views, relying on certain entries in the guideline values issued by the Registration Department. First we should record that those survey numbers wh....
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....nakshi V. Asst. CIT reported in (2010) 326 ITR 229 (Mad)?" In our view, the Appellate Tribunal is empowered to revisit the orders of the Assessing Officer as well as the first Appellate Authority. As the final forum for deciding the questions of facts as well as law, it is the Tribunal's duty to test questions of fact. Therefore, we do not find any error in the Appellate Tribunal entertaining the appeals by the assessee as well as the Revenue. However, we find that the reasoning of the Tribunal in this instant case is contrary to Constitutional provisions and in disregard to the established facts and evidence borne on record. This question is answered accordingly. 21. The third substantial questions of law is reads as below:- ....