TMI Blog2002 (6) TMI 6X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch, Indore, has at the instance of the Revenue, made this reference under section 64(1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 (for short, "the Act"), to this court for resolution of the following question, said to be of law, arising out of the Tribunal's order dated November 23, 1994, passed in E. D. A. No. 6/Imd of 1988: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is justified in law in holding that the interest charged by the Assistant Controller under section 70 of the Estate Duty Act on the demand of estate duty determined provisionally under section 57, is not sustainable in law?" The accountable person (for short, "the AP"), in the instant case is Maharani Mrunalinidevi Puar, the widow of the late Shri Anand ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. The accountable person-assessee-appealed before the Appellate Controller who while allowing the appeal held that the provisions of section 70 of the Act do not apply to the payment of demand raised on provisional assessment. Feeling aggrieved by the decision of the Appellate Controller, the Revenue preferred appeal before the Tribunal. The Tribunal vide order dated November 23, 1994, dismissed the appeal of the Revenue holding that in the circumstances of the case, charging of interest under section 70(1) would not be justified. Unsatisfied with the view taken by the Tribunal, a prayer was made by the Revenue to refer the question, as extracted above, for the decision of this court under section 64(1) of the Act. The prayer was accepte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sessment. Reliance was placed on an earlier Division decision of the raffia High Court in Bettiah Estate v. Union of India [1977] 108 ITR 210. We have given our anxious consideration to the rival contentions al feel persuaded by the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the see. Section 57 of the Act provides for making of provisional assessment advance of regular assessment. Section 57(1) confers power on the Conti to make provisional assessment in advance of regular assessment after the receipt of the account delivered under section 53 or section 56 by the accountable person. Sub-section (2) of section 57 further provides that upon a provisional assessment being made under sub-section (1), the person assessed shall either pay to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nts or eight equal half-yearly instalments with interest at the rate of four per cent. per annum or any higher interest yielded by the property from the date on which the first instalment is payable and the interest on the unpaid portion of the duty shall be added to each instalment 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." A reading of sections 57 and 70 in juxtaposition would make it clear that the question of postponement of payment of estate duty under section 70 would arise only after final ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Act on the ground that the interest under section 70 on the deferred payment of the tax due according to the provisional assessment had not been included in the regular assessment. As section 70 could have been invoked only after the regular assessment had been made, it cannot be contended that there was any mistake in that assessment to be rectified under section 61." The Karnataka High Court in Smt. Jayakumari's case [1991] 191 ITR 273 has, however, taken a different view and held: "The two sub-sections of section 70 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, operate in different fields. This is evident from the use of the non-obstante clause in sub-section (2) of section 70. A careful reading of sub-section (1) clearly discloses that it appli ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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