The main legal point established in the judgment is that for agricultural income to be taxable under the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, the lands forming the source of income must have been situated within the State of Mysore during the entire previous year.

( 1 ) THIS application is for prohibition restraining the Agricultural Income-tax Officer of Bagalkot from proceeding with the assessment which he proposed to make in respect of the agricultural income of the petitioner for the assessment year 1957-58.

( 2 ) THE petitioner, who is a resident of Mudhol in the district of Bijapur, was called upon by the income-tax Officer by a notice issued to him on June 10, 1958, to file his return in respect of his agricultural income for the assessment year 1957-58. Although the petitioner did furnish the return he was called upon to furnish he asserts in this application that the Income-tax Officer had no jurisdiction to assess his agricultural income for the year 1957-58.

( 3 ) THE challenge made to the competence of the Income-tax Officer is based on the ground that since during a part of the previous year to which that assessment year related, the lands from which the petitioner derived his agricultural income were not within the new State of Mysore, that income did not attract the tax imposed by the Mysore, that income did not attract the tax imposed by the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act.

( 4 ) THE taluk of Mudhol in which the lands belonging to the petitioner are situate, originally formed part of the State of Bombay. That taluk became part of the new State of Mysore on and from November 1, 1956, on which date there was the reorganisation of States.

( 5 ) THE Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act came into force on October 1, 1957, and it is under the provisions of this Act that the Income-tax Officer required the petitioner to furnish his return. Whether any part of the agricultural income of the petitioner derived by him during the year previous to the year of assessment is taxable under the provisions of this Act, is the question arising in this case.

( 6 ) SUB-SECTION (1) of section 3 of the Act which is the charging section reads :

"agricultural income-tax at the rate or rates specified in part I of the Schedule to this Act shall be charged for each financial year commencing from the 1st of April, 1957, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this Act, on the total agricultural income of the previous year of every person. "

( 7 ) IT is clear from the provisions of this section that the charge of agricultural income-tax is on the "total agricultural income of the previous year". The "previous year" referred to in this sub-section is defined by section 2 (1) (s) of the Act and that definition reads :

" (s) 'previous year' means - (i) the twelve months ending on the 31st day of March preceding the year for which the assessment is to be made, or, if the accounts of the assessee have been made up to a date within the said twelve months in respect of a year ending on any date other than the said 31st day of march, then at the option of the assessee the year ending on the day to which his accounts have been so made up : provided that, if the option has once be exercised by an assessee, he shall not exercise it again so as to vary the meaning of the expression 'previous year' as then applicable to him except with the consent of the Agricultural Income-tax Officer and upon such conditions as he may think fit;. . . . . "

( 8 ) SINCE the petitioner in this case did not exercise any option under clause (i), his previous year in respect of the assessment year 1957-58 was the period which began on April 1, 1956, and ended on March 31, 1957. The expression "total agricultural income" occurring in section 3 is again defined by section 2 (1) (w) of the Act and that definition reads :

" (w) 'total agricultural income' means the aggregate of all agricultural income derived by a person from land situated in the State of Mysore whether received by him within or without the state computed in accordance with the provisions of section 5 and includes all income of the description specified in section 11 and all receipts of the description specified in clauses (a), (c)and