1. The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Bangalore, has referred to us the following two questions for our opinion in terms of section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 :

"(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the applicant was not entitled to depreciation at 100 per cent. on the cages whose individual cost was less than Rs. 750 on the ground that the cages had been fabricated into one unit and thereby lost its individuality ?

(2) Whether, on the facts, the Tribunal was right in holding that each cage was not a plant by itself and accordingly the applicant was not entitled to depreciation at 100 per cent. when the cost of each of the cages was less than Rs. 750 ?"

2. Before we address ourselves to the legal position on the subject, a few facts relevant to the disposal of this reference may first be noticed. The assessee is carrying on the business of running a poultry farm.

3. It has, for that purpose, raised sheds and installed cages in the same for housing birds. During the period relevant to the assessment year 1981-82, the assessee added some new sheds to the existing ones and purchased 9,000 cages at the rate