TMI Blog1964 (9) TMI 53X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... state. This share was valued by the Assistant Controller (respondent) at Rs.4,84,713. To this was added the sum of Rs.1,300 which represented the value of the personal belongings of the petitioner's deceased wife. The respondent assessed the duty on the estate at Rs.49,152. Of this Rs.23,109 represented the duty on immovable property. A notice of demand under section 73(1) of the Act was served on the petitioner on July 25, 1963, and he was called upon to pay the duty by the fifteenth of August, 1963. After making some comparatively small payments towards the duty, the petitioner applied to the respondent to permit him to exercise the option of paying the duty, payable by him on immovable property, in four equal annual installments. This ap ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt is payable and the interest on the unpaid portion of the duty shall be added to each installment and paid accordingly; but the duty for the time being unpaid with such interest to the date of payment may be paid at any time and in case where the property is sold shall be paid on the completion of the sale and if not so paid shall be recovered in the manner specified in section 73". The words "from the date on which the first installment is payable" are key words. A reference to section 73(1) and 73(2) is useful to elucidate the position. These sections are as follows: "73. (1) When any estate duty, penalty or interest is due in consequence of any order passed under this Act, the Controller shall serve upon the person accountable or o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ability to pay estate duty comes into being. It does not deal with the date of actual payment of the duty. The date of actual payment will arrive only after the property is valued, the duty is assessed and a notice of demand is issued. What section 70(2) does is to give an option to the accountable person to pay the duty in respect of immovable property in four equal yearly installments instead of in a lump sum on the date specified in the notice or prescribed by sub-section (2) of section 73. Therefore, the date on which the first installment is payable as referred to in section 70(2) is the date which is mentioned in the notice under section 73(1) or the date which is statutorily fixed under section 73(2). The dates for payment of the oth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lly a dead letter in a case where the assessing authority takes more than four years from the date of the death of the deceased to complete the assessment. It is not un-often that proceedings for assessment of estate duty take more than four years to complete. Therefore, the construction contended for by Mr. Kondaiah will practically defeat the purpose of section 70(2). A substantial benefit which that section purports to grant to a person cannot be defeated by mere delay on the part of the assessing authority to complete the assessment. The legislature could not have intended such a result. Yet, if the construction put forward on behalf of the department is accepted, that would be the result. Besides, even if section 70(2) is not there, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... August, 1964. The rest of the amount has to be paid by him in two equal installments, one on the 15th August, 1965, and the other on the 15th August, 1966. The respondent will be entitled to collect the duty only on this basis. The petitioner will of course be liable to pay also interest as prescribed in section 70(2). If the petitioner has not already paid the portion of the estate duty which became payable on August 15, 1963, and August 15, 1964, it will be open to the respondent to realise it from him by taking all proceedings available to him under the Act. There is one other matter which has now to be dealt with. It is that a sum of Rs. 75,213 which was due to the deceased for her share of the jagir commutation amount has not yet bee ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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