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TMI Blog1965 (7) TMI 6X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the Wealth-tax Act ?" Section 5(1)(i) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, provides that wealth-tax shall not be payable by an assessee in respect of any property held under trust or other legal obligation for any public purpose of a charitable or religious nature in India ; and that such assets shall not be included in the net wealth of the assessee. It is common ground that this exemption is unavailable to the case before us. The only contention urged on behalf of the assessee is that the owner of the assets in the case of a wakf is the Almighty and that the Almighty does not come within the purview of section 3, the charging section of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. That section reads as follows : " Subject to the other provisions contained in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er of Income-tax v. Puthiya Ponmanichintakam Wakf a case dealing with the very wakf with which we are concerned, the Supreme Court dealt with the matter as follows : " Under the Mahomedan law, the moment a wakf is created all rights of property pass out of the wakif and vest in the Almighty. The property does not vest in the mutawalli, for he is merely a manager and not a trustee in the technical sense. Though wakf property belongs to the Almighty, the practical significance of that concept is explained in Jewun Doss Sahoo v. Shah Kubeer-ood-deen, thus : ' " Wakf " signifies the appropriation of a particular article in such a manner as subjects it to the rules of divine property, whence the appropriator's right in it is extinguished, and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a court of wards or an Administrator-General or an official trustee or any receiver or manager or any other person, by whatever name called, appointed under any order of a court to manage property on behalf of another, or any trustee appointed under a trust declared by a duly executed instrument in writing, whether testamentary or otherwise (including a trustee under a valid deed of wakf), the wealth-tax shall be levied upon and recoverable from the court of wards, Administrator-General, official trustee, receiver, manager or trustee, as the case may be, in the like manner and to the same extent as it would be leviable upon and recoverable from the person on whose behalf the assets are held, and the provisions of this Act shall apply accord ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er or trustee, as the case may be, in the like manner and to the same extent as it would be leviable upon and recoverable from the person on whose behalf or for whose benefit the assets are held, and the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly. " The relevant portion of the note on clause 20 of the Wealth-tax (Amendment) Bill, 1964, which became section 20 of the Wealth-tax (Amendment) Act, 1964, reads as follows : "Sub-clauses (a) and (b) make certain drafting changes to clarify that the provisions of section 21 apply where any assets are held either on behalf of the beneficiary or for the benefit of a beneficiary. " There is no dispute as regards the quantum of the assessment. The mutawalli is certainly an individual within the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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