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2016 (4) TMI 654 - AT - Wealth-taxTreatment of land acquired by the Government of India under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 - whether falls within the definition of net wealth of the assessee company under the Wealth Tax Act, 1957? - Held that:- The assessee does not hold any ownership rights in the said portion of land and it is absolutely with the Government. Once the ownership of land is vested with the Government and where only possession of the said land has been given to the assessee, we find merit in the plea of the assessee that the said land does not belong to the assessee in order to make it liable to the provisions of Wealth Ta x Act, under which the value of asset belonging to the assessee is to be included in the hands of the assessee as part of its net wealth. Accordingly, we hold so. Merely because a decision was taken by the Government to sell the land in order to meet the liabilities of assessee company does not make the assessee the owner of the land. The assessee was a Government company and the land was acquired by the Government for the purpose of assessee company, which admittedly, is a public purpose under the provisions of LAC Act, but the land vests with the Government and it has every right to take a decision with regard to the said land in order to liquidate the financial crunch of its company i.e. the assessee before us, which is a Government company. However, the said decision of the Government was withdrawn on a later date and funds were decided to be infused into the assessee company. Once the asset does not belong to the assessee, we find no merit in the orders of authorities below in assessing the value of the said assets in the hands of assessee and accordingly, we direct the Assessing Officer to delete the same - Decided in favour of assessee
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