MASILAMANI UDAYAR Vs. RAMAKRISHNA CHETTIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS civil revision petition is filed by the judgment-debtor against the judgment in R. E. P. No. 106 of 1980 in O. S. No. 27 of 1980 on the file of the Subordinate Judge of Tiruvannamala i holding that the judgment-debtor is not a debtor as defined under section 3 (d)of Act XIII of 1980. The respondent herein obtained a decree against the revision petitioner for recovery of Rs. 8,425 in O. S. No. 27 of 1980 and filed R. E. P. No. 106 of 1980 for the realisation of the said amount by attachment and sale of the properties belonging to the judgment-debtor. The judgment- debtor|re ,vision petitioner filed a counter statement contending that he is a debtor as defined under Act XIII of 1980 and as such he is entitled to protection under the above-said Act. The learned Subordinate Judge came to the conclusion that the judgment-debtor is not a debtor as defined under the Act since during the relevant period the judgment-debtor had sold his landed properties for Rs. 17,750 and the amount received by way of sale proceeds has to be reckoned as the income and as such the income of the judgment-debtor exceeds the sum of Rs. 4,800. As against the order of the learned Subordinate Judge, holding that the judgment-debtor is not a debtor as defined under Act XIII of 1980, civil revision petition is filed.

(2.) MR. M. Srinivasan , advocate appearing on behalf of the revision petitioner, contends that Rs. 17,750 the sale, proceeds of the landed properties of the judgment-debtor cannot be treated as the annual household income as defined in section 3 (a), of Act (XIII of 1980), which reads as follows:' ''annual household income' ; means the aggregate of the gross annual income from all sources of all the members of a family during the year ending on the 31st December, 1979'. As per the section, household income means the aggregate of the gross annual income from all sources of all the members of a family during the year ending 31st December, 1979. But the term'income' ; had not been specifically defined in any of the sections of the abovesaid Act.

(3.) IN the Law Lexicon and Legal Maxims of Venkataramaiy a (1980 Edition), the meaning of the word'income' ; is defined as: "that which comes in as the periodical produce of one's work, business, lands or investments (commonly expressed in terms of money); annual or periodical receipts accruing to a person or corporation; revenues' ;. It is also stated in the Law Lexicon that: "the expression'income' ; in its normal connotation does not mean mere production or receipt of a commodity which may be converted into money. INcome arises when the commodity is disposed of by sale, consumption or use in the manufacture or other processes carried on by the assessee qua that commodity. There is no reason to think that the expression'income' ; in the Madras Plantations Agricultural INcome-tax Act, 1955 has any other connotation' ;.