A publisher of books is a manufacturer of books, even if it does not own a printing press or do the binding itself.

( 1 ) THE Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has referred the following question of law to this court under Section 256 (1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 :" Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee was mainly engaged in the manufacture or processing of goods ? "

( 2 ) IN the assessment year under reference the Income-tax Officer did not deal with the assessee's claim that it was a manufacturer or a processor of goods. Therefore, the assessee asked the Income-tax Officer to rectify the orders under Section 154 of the Act and to consider whether the assessee as manufacturer or processor of goods was entitled to be taxed at a concessional rate. The Income-tax Officer rejected the application which was, however, allowed by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner who directed the Income-tax Officer to grant relief under Section 154 of the Act". The department then filed appeal which was dismissed by the Tribunal in the following terms :" The assessee is a publisher of books. The assessee's job is to get the manuscript for publication, hit upon a suitable format for the book, get it printed as per its requirements under its supervision, get the book bound after suitable changes and then put out the publication for sale. In all these activities, the assessee has to play an active role by co-ordinating its activities in a business-like manner. All these activities dovetail into one another and the stage from the acquisition of the manuscript right up to the publication is one integrated activity which tantamounts to a manufacturing or processing activity in the light of the principles laid down by the Gujarat High Court in the case of Ajay Printery P. Ltd. [1965] 58 ITR 811 and by the Madras High Court in the case of M. R. Gopal [1965] 58 ITR 598 as stated above. It is no doubt true that the assessee does not have its own printing press. That, however, really does not make any material difference. The assessee's activity cannot be called purely a trading activity. A trader merely purchases the goods which have already been manufactured by others and then sells them. In this case, the assessee gets the books printed to suit its requirements and under its active supervision and guidance. Even after the printing is over, the assessee has to get the books bound which involves a considerable amount of processing. In other words it purchases paper and other printing materials and ultimately manufactures or processes publications for sale. The business that the assessee is doing can, therefore, be called a manufacturing or processing activity. "

( 3 ) IN view of the order of the Tribunal, we re-frame the question as follows :" Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee was engaged in any manufacturing or processing activity ? "

( 4 ) IT has been contended on behalf of the revenue before us that since the assessee was not the owner of a printing press and the printing was done from outside, it should be held that the assessee did not carry on any activity either in manufacturing or in processing of any books. It has also been argued that as the books were bound by the outside book-binders it cannot be said that the assessee was a manufacturer of any books. It has finally been submitted that, in view of the finding of the Tribunal that the assessee's activity cannot purely be called a trading activity, it should be held that the assessee was not mainly engaged in manufacturing or processing of books.

( 5 ) IN other words, the argument is that unless an assessee owns a manufacturing plant, he cannot be a manufacturer and similarly unless he himself does the binding or packing he cannot be a manufacturer.

( 6 ) AS to the first proposition, reliance was placed on a decision of the Madras High Court in the case of Commissioner of Income-tax v. Commercial Laws of India. Pvt. Ltd. In that case, the assessee was