(1.) BY this reference under Section 256(1) of the I.T. Act, 1961, hereinafter called "the Act", the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Indore Bench, has referred the following questions of law to this court for its opinion:
(2.) WHETHER, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee could deal in agricultural lands as much as any other commodity in spite of the provisions of the M.P. Land Revenue Code restricting the transfer of lands ?
(3.) NOW, the various decisions relied on by learned counsel for the asses-see do not purport to lay down any general or universal test. It would not, therefore, serve any purpose to examine every decision in detail. As held by the Supreme Court in G. Venkataswami Naidu and Co. v. CIT [1959] 35 ITR 594, in each case it is the total effect of all relevant factors and circumstances that determine the character of the transaction.