June 2008
Capital gains : Income from sale of milk : Sale of calves : Cost of acquisition not ascertainable : Capital gain not chargeable
By K. B. Bhujle, Advocate
Reading Time 2 mins
New Page 1
22 Capital gains : Assessee deriving
income from sale of milk : Sale of calves : Cost of acquisition not
ascertainable : Capital gain not chargeable to tax.
[Dy. CIT v. Smt. Suniti Singh, 215 CTR 326 (MP)]
The assessee was running a dairy and was deriving income
from sale of cow milk. In the relevant year, the assessee had sold calves. The
assessee claimed that the profit on sale of calves is not chargeable to tax as
the cost of acquisition is not ascertainable. The Assessing Officer observed
that the assessee had claimed depreciation on calves forming a part and parcel
of the live stock and, therefore, it was stock in trade of the assessee and
income from the sale of such stock in trade is liable to tax. Accordingly, the
Assessing Officer made an addition of Rs.68,000. The Tribunal accepted the
assessee’s claim and deleted the addition.
On appeal by the Revenue, the Madhya Pradesh High Court
upheld the decision of the Tribunal and held as under :
“(i) The business of the assessee relates to sale of milk
and the female cows constitute assets and they are exploited for production
of milk. The primary motive of the assessee is to fertilise the cows so that
they can yield milk. The income is derived through sale of milk and all
expenses which have gone into are to upkeep them and maintenance of cows,
like purchase of fodder, medicines, etc. are exclusively designed for
obtaining milk and the said expenditure has been shown as revenue
expenditure in the P&L a/c.
(ii) The calves came into being in the process so that
the female cows can be utilised to produce and eventually the milk is sold.
The male calves are sold as they are of no value to the assessee as they
cannot produce milk. There is no material on record to show that the selling
of calves is a part of the business activity of the assessee. Facts brought
on record clearly show that the asessee is engaged in the business activity
which relates to sale of milk.
(ii) The Tribunal is right in holding that the sale of
calves by the assessee cannot be regarded as capital gain since the cost of
acquisition is not ascertainable.”
