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TMI Blog2012 (9) TMI 1063X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lt this issue as under:- "List of agricultural lands owned by the assessee which are claimed not to be urban land within the meaning of section 2(2)(ea)(v) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. Sr. No Name of Village Survey No. Remarks 1. Ambali 509 + 511 Construction of Building not permissible under the law. 2. Ambali 479 „ 3. Ambali 480 „ 4. Ambali 176 „ 5. Vejalpur 1037 „ 6. Vejalpur 1038 „ 7. Vejalpur 1044 „ 8. Vejalpur 1050/1 „ 9. Makarba 714 „ 10. Makarba 715/1 „ 11. Makarba 715/2 „ 12. Manipur 389 More than 8 Kms. Away from local limits of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. 13. Godhavi 744 & 779 „ 14. Chabasar - „ The assessee was asked to explain how the above land is not urban land within the meaning of section 2(2)(ea)(v) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. The assessee vide his reply dated 6th Nov., 2007 submitted as under: "Regarding land of Ambli, Vejalpur and Makarba, it is submitted that construction of building is not permissible under the law and, therefore, same are not urban land within the meaning of section 2(2)(ea)(v) of the W.T. Act, 19 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en at ₹ 1,21,78,250/-. The assessee has furnished inaccurate particulars of net wealth and penalty proceedings are separately initiated by issue of notice u/s. 18(1)(c) of the W.T. Act. 6. Vejalpur land The assessee himself has shown other Vejalpur lands (survey Nos.1183, 1184) as taxable assets and net wealth ₹ 17,00,000/- has been offered for taxation. This land was a plot of 2000 sq. mtrs and valued @ 850 per sq. mtrs. The assessee has, however, not offered similar wealth for the following lands for taxation: Survey No.1037 25597 sq. mtr. 1/7 share 3200 sq. mtr. Survey No.1038 9713 sq. mtr. ½ share 4856 sq. mtr. Survey No.1044 9914 sq. mtrs ½ share 4957 sq. mtr. Survey No.1050/1 14340 sq.mtrs Full share 14340 sq. mtr. When this land was purchased it was in Vejalpur Area. Afterwards this land was transferred in the jurisdiction of Jodhpur Nagarpaljka. The Jodpur Nagarpalika encompasses Satellite Road which is since merged in the limits of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation w.e.f. July, 2006. On the valuation date it was a separate Nagarpalika and the land is situated in posh area (near Big Bazar and ISCON Temple). This land is surrounded by many ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... - ₹ 2,32,50,850/- Makarba Land - ₹ 1,08,78,300/- Net Wealth Rs.5,31,33,000/- Assessed u/s 16(3) r.w.s. 17 OF THE Wealth Tax Act, 1957. Give credit for prepaid taxes after due verification. Charge interest as applicable. Issue demand notice and challan. Issue show cause for penalty u/s 18(1)(c ) of the W.T. Act for concealment of taxable wealth and for furnishing of inaccurate particulars of wealth." 4. Before ld. CWT(A) assessee's contention was that the agricultural lands at Ambali, Vejalpur and Makarba cannot be taxed as urban lands, because as per provisions of Section 65 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, prior permission of the District Collector should be obtained for the use of said agricultural lands for any purpose other than agricultural land and that the assessee had neither made any application nor obtained any permission for using the said agricultural lands for non-agricultural purpose. Argument was raised before the A.O. that as per Section 63 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, transfer of the said agricultural lands to any person who is not an agriculturist, cannot be made. It was also pleaded that the AO had visited the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ating Ambali, Vejalpur and Makarba lands as taxable assets is upheld." Further aggrieved, now the assessee is in appeal before us. 6. At the time of hearing, ld. counsel of the assessee, reiterating the submissions made before the lower authorities further submitted that since construction of building is not permissible under the law on the lands at Ambali, Vejalpur and Makarba, the same are not urban lands within the meaning of Section 2(ea) (v) of the Wealth Tax Act. Ld. counsel drew our attention to section 65 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 and submitted that permission of the collector is required to be obtained for the purpose of using these lands for other than the agricultural purposes. It was further submitted that assessee has not made any application for using these agricultural lands for any other purposes, therefore, the same cannot be held to be urban lands. Ld. counsel also placed reliance on Section 66 of Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 to submit that in case these lands are used for the purpose other than agriculture, penal provisions will be attracted and the assessee will be liable to be evicted by the collector from the land so used and may be also asked to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of the application, be reckoned from the date of the acknowledgement, but in any other case it shall be reckoned from the date of receipt of the application." 8. It is clear from the above that this section does not prohibit the occupant of these lands to use these lands to any other purpose other than agriculture. It only mentions that if an occupant wishes to use his holding for any other purpose than agriculture, Collector's permission will have to be obtained by him. The procedure for seeking/obtaining such permission is also mentioned therein. It means that the construction of building on these lands was "subject to permission" by Collector and it is not the case that construction of building was "not permissible at all". We further find that the finding of the A.O. that on similarly placed lands residential and commercial complexes like ISCON Mall and Big Bazar have come up, has remained undisputed at the time of hearing. In view of this, the contention of the assessee that no application for using these agricultural lands for any other purpose was made on behalf of the assessee, is irrelevant for deciding the issue. 9. Now we come to the relevant provisions of Section 2( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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