HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Sardar Indra Singh and Sons Ltd. v Commissioner of Income-tax, West Bengal
Civil Appeal No. 40 of 1952
[1954] SCR 167 ·
Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, section 10
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
5-judge bench · Patanjali Sastri CJI (author) · S. R. Das J. · Vivian Bose J. · Ghulam Hasan J. · N. H. Bhagwati J.
Assessment years: 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42
01 · Facts of the case
A financing and company-promotion business regularly changed shareholdings and used borrowings. It claimed gains on securities were capital realisations, although an earlier loss had been allowed as business loss.
Source: Primary report: SCR 168–170
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
Was the surplus sufficiently connected to carrying on the financing business to constitute taxable trading profit? A separate business of securities dealing was unnecessary. Sales in the normal course of financing operations sufficed. The Tribunal’s evidence established that acquiring and realising investments was directly connected with the company’s actual financing business.
03 · Judicial decision
The company’s appeal was dismissed with costs.
Source: Primary report: SCR 171
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
The company’s appeal was dismissed with costs.
Source: Primary report: SCR 171
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
Examine actual business activities and the role of investments, not only their description or the company’s objects. The ruling does not make every investment disposal trading income.
Source: Primary report: SCR 170–171
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
Five pages / SCR 167–171. First page contains Sohan Pathak conclusion; last page starts A. W. Figgies.
Statutory scope
Historical statutory text and assessment period only. Present statutory equivalence and later judicial treatment are not cleared.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-18. Subsequent treatment and current-law applicability have not been comprehensively checked.
Page references identify the supplied PDF; paragraph references identify the judgment unless stated otherwise.
AI disclosure & professional disclaimer
This AKHB research note was prepared with AI assistance from an identified primary report. Independent human review is not represented.
General legal and tax research only; not legal or tax advice. Verify the complete judgment, applicable statutory version and subsequent treatment before reliance. The AKHB REVIEW POINT is editorial analysis, not the Court’s holding. No current-law clearance is claimed.