JUDGMENT :

B. Divan, J.

This reference raises an interesting question of construction of section 44F of the Income-tax Act, 1922. The question is not free from difficulty arising as it does on one of the least happily drafted sections of an Act not otherwise known for perspicuity. In order to appreciate the question it is necessary to notice the facts giving rise to the reference in some detail.

2. The assessee is an individual and his income consists mainly of dividends and director's fees. He held at the material time 94 shares out of a total share capital of 640 shares of the face value of Rs. 500 each in a company called Lallubhai Gordhandas and Company Limited. This company, to which we shall for the sake of convenience refer as these managing agency company, was the managing agent of Rohit Mills Limited and was a company in which the public are not substantially interested within the meaning of section 23A. By a resolution dated 3rd December, 1957, passed at an extraordinary general meeting of Rohit Mills Limited, it was resolved that the managing agency should be determined and accordingly it came to an end an 31st December, 1957. Since the managing agency of Rohit Mills Limite