Case: M/S. S. C. Cambatta &amp; Co. Private Ltd., Bombay Vs. The Commissioner Of Excess Profits Tax Bombay

2. We are concerned in these appeals with three chargeable accounting periods, each ending respectively on December 31, beginning with the year, 1943 and ending with the year, 1945.3. The appellants carry on various businesses, and one such business was the running of a theatre and restaurant, called the Eros Theatre and Restaurant. In October, 1943, a subsidiary Company called the Eros. Theatre and Restaurant, Ltd. was formed. The paid-up capital of the subsidiary Company was Rs. 7,90,100 divided into 7,911 shares of Rs. 100 each. 7,901 shares were allotted to the appellant Company as consideration for assets, goodwill, stock-in-trade and book debts which were taken over by the subsidiary Company, and the remaining 10 shares were held by the cambatta family. The assets which were transferred were as follows:Assets :Assets transferred...Rs. 1,28,968Stock-in-trade...Rs. 40,000Book debts...Rs. 100Rs. 1,69,068They together with the capital reserve of Rs. 6,21,032 made up the amount of Rs. 7,90,100. In the books of the subsidiary Company, the share capital account was shown separately as follows :Rs. 2,50,000 debited to the various assets account.Rs. 5,00,000 debited to the good will account.Rs. 40,000 debited to the stock-in-trade account.Rs. 100 debited to the book debts account.It will thus appear that goodwill was not shown separately in the appellants account books, but only in the accounts of the subsidiary Company. In working out the capital of the two Companies for excess profits tax, a sum of Rs, 5,00,000 was claimed as goodwill as part of the capital of the subsidiary Company. Both the Department as well as the Tribunal held that S. 8(3) of the Excess Profits Tax Act applied; and the goodwill was not taken into account in working out the capital. The Tribunal declined to state a case, but the High Court directed that a reference be made on two questions, which were framed as follows :"(1) Whether on the facts of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in applying Sec. 8(3) of the Excess Profits Tax Act?(2) Whether in the computation of the capital employed in the business of the assessee, the Tribunal erred in not including the value of the goodwill or any portionThe High Court by its judgment and order answered the first question in the negative and the second, in the affirmative. It held that sub-sec. (5) and not sub-sec. (3) of S. 8 of the Excess Profits Tax Act was applicable. It, therefore, held that "the Tribunal should have allowed for the value of the goodwill whatever it thought was reasonable at the date of the transfer."When the matter went before the Tribunal again, three affidavits and a valuation report by a firm of architects were filed. The goodwill, according to the report of the architects, amounted to Rs, 25 lakhs. It may be mentioned here that the subsidiary Company was using the premises under a lease granted on November 20, 1944, for three years beginning from April 1, 1944, on a rental of Rs. 9,500 per month. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that no goodwill had been acquired by the business of the Theatre as such, and that whatever goodwill there was, related to the site and building itself. They then proceeded to consider what value should be set upon the goodwill on the date of the transfer of the subsidiary Company as directed by the High Court. They took into account certain factors in reaching their conclusions. They first considered the earning capacity of the business, and held that prior to 1942 the business had not made profits, and that the name of Eros Theatre and Restaurant thus by itself had no goodwill at all. They, therefore, considered that the only goodwill which had been acquired attached to the lease, which the trustees had given to the Eros Theatre and Restaurant Ltd., and computing the goodwill as the value of the lease to the subsidiary company, they felt that Rs. 2 lakhs was a liberal estimate of the value of the goodwill in the hands of Eros Theatre and Restaurant, Ltd. at the material time.6. Petitions under Ss. 66(1) and 66(2) read with S. 21 of the Excess Profits Tax Act were respectively rejected by the Tribunal and the High Court; but the appellants obtained special leave from this Court, and filed these appeals.

Court's reasoning:
7. In our opinion, a question of law did arise in the case whether the goodwill of the Eros Theatre and Restaurant, Ltd. was calculated in accordance with law. The Tribunal seems to have taken into account only the value of the leasehold of the site to the subsidiary Company, and rejected other considerations which go to make up the goodwill of a business.It will thus been seen that the goodwill of a business depends upon a variety of circumstances or a combination of them. The location, the service, the standing of the business, the honesty of those who run it, and the lack of competition and many other factors go individually or together to make up the goodwill, though locality always plays a considerable part. Shift the locality, and the goodwill may be lost. At the same time, locality is not everything. The power to attract custom depends on one or more of the other factors as well. In the case of a theatre or restaurant, what is catered, how the service is run and what the competition is, contribute also to the goodwill.10. From the above, it is manifest that the matter of goodwill needs to be considered in a much broader way than what the Tribunal has done. A question of law did arise in the case, and, in our opinion, the High Court should have directed the Tribunal to state a case upon it.