Commissioner of Income Tax vs Univmine (P.) Ltd.

The petitioner seeks reference of the following question:

Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was justified in directing that the assessee is entitled to investment allowance u/s 32A of the income tax Act, 1961, in its business of mining and extraction of marble?

The respondent-assessee is carrying on the business of extracting and selling marble. According to the petitioner herein the assessee is not entitled to Investment allowance u/s 32A of the Income- tax Act, 1961 (''the Act'') .

We, however, find that allowance under the said provision can be given to an industrial undertaking for the purpose of business of construction, manufacture or production of an article specified in the list in the Eleventh Schedule. It is not in dispute that marble is one of the items which is mentioned in the Eleventh Schedule while the counsel for the petitioner may be right in contending that mining of marble may not amount to manufacture but the said provision, namely, section 32A(2)(b)(iii) applies to an industrial undertaking which, inter alia, carries on a business of production of an article. The mining of marble would amount to carrying on the business of production and reference may usefully be made to the case of Chrestien Mica Industries Ltd. v. State of Bihar [1961] 12 STC 150 where the Supreme Court held that the process of mining mica is a process of production. Following the said decision we feel that the answer to the question proposed is self-evident and, therefore, the petition is dismissed.