Judgment

GROVER. J. :- These appeals from a common order of the High Court of Madras are by certificate. The assessee, who is the respondent is a limited company carrying on business of tea planting. It owns several tea estates in the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam. Its head office is in Munnar in the State of Kerala. One of the tea estates owned by the assessee is called Chittavurai Tea Estate and comprises 1043 acres of tea plantations. Out of this an area of 1006.60 acres is situate in Kerala and the remaining 36.40 acres, in Tamil Nadu. According to the assessee Chittavurai Estate is working as one unit. There is only one factory manufacturing tea grown in the Madras and Kerala portion of the estate. The expenses are incurred for the maintenance of the whole estate as one unit and common accounts are maintained for it, there being no separate account for the Madras portion.

2. Section 2(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 hereinafter called the Income-tax Act defines agricultural income . The same definition is to be found in Section 2 of the Madras Agricultural Income-tax Act, Madras Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955, hereinafter referred to as "Agricultural Income-