Commissioner of Income Tax vs Enterprising Exporters (P) Ltd.

R. Jayasimha Babu, J.—The assessee is engaged in the extraction and export of granite blocks. For the asst. yr. 1989-90, it claimed deduction u/s 80HHC on the ground that it is engaged in the manufacture and production of dimentional granite blocks. All that the assessee does is to quarry granite and export the granite blocks of the sizes required by its buyers abroad.

A claim similar to the one made by the assessee in this case was considered by this Court in the case of another exporter of granite blocks in The Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Pooshya Exports (P) Ltd., . It was held by the Court therein in that case that the quarrying of granite blocks does not amount to manufacture.

Learned counsel for the respondent does not dispute the fact that the law declared in that case is applicable to the facts of this case as well.

The question as to whether the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee is entitled to deduction u/s 80HHC is, therefore, required to be and is answered in the negative. The appeal is allowed.