TMI Blog1997 (12) TMI 82X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... en to the Department to question about status in the year under consideration when the said point has been accepted in earlier years. Whether the principle of estoppel and res judicata are applicable?" 2. Whether the Department is precluded from examining the various legal issues and points of the case when the same was under scrutiny for the first time? 3. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the income from house property should be clubbed in the hands of Ms. Indu Puri by virtue of the provisions of section 64(2) of the Income-tax Act? 4. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal was correct in deciding the income from letting of furniture and fixtures are ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or the earlier years were made summarily under section 143(1) of the Act and were not made after scrutiny. He, therefore, submitted that for the assessment year in question the Assessing Officer was not debarred from making a scrutiny and thereafter coming to a conclusion at variance with the one arrived at for the earlier years. Counsel for the assessee has replied by submitting that even if the assessments were summarily made, they are deemed to have been made after due application of mind and therefore, the principles of res judicata and estoppel will be attracted. In Radhasoami Satsang v. CIT [1992] 193 ITR 321; AIR 1992 SC 377, their Lordships of the Supreme Court have held (headnote of AIR 1992 SC and page 329 of 193 ITR) : "Pri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rder of the Tribunal? Which way the questions may ultimately be answered is not the relevant consideration at this stage. In our opinion, questions Nos. 1 and 3 do arise as questions of law from the order of the Tribunal and, therefore, to that extent, calling for a statement of the case followed by a direction to refer the questions for the opinion of the High Court is justifiably warranted. As for question No. 4 it appears that the assessee had let out his house wherefrom he was deriving rent. The assessee had also let out some furniture to the tenant under a separate deed of rent. The Assessing Officer treated the rent from the property as well as the rent from furniture as "income from property" and taxed the same accordingly. However ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... were let out to the tenant determining two separate sets of monthly rent. Both the agreements were to run concurrently and the agreement for hire of fittings and fixtures was to stand automatically terminated once the lease agreement for the property was terminated. Section 3(1)(b) of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, defined "annual value" in the case of any house or building to mean the gross annual rent which such house or building together with its appurtenances and any furniture that may be let for enjoyment therewith. The term "rent" was not defined in the Act. The court took judicial notice of the prevailing practice of the parties entering into such agreements showing a part as rent for the premises and part as rent for furniture and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alue shall be determined by reference to sections 22 and 23 of the Act. In the case at hand, it has been found as a fact by the Tribunal that the transactions of letting out the house and that of letting out the furniture and fixtures to the tenant were severable transactions. It has not been found as a fact that either the furniture and fixtures were let out to the tenant as an amenity attaching with the house property let out to the tenant or that the two transactions though evidenced by two different documents were in substance part and parcel of the same transaction. Inasmuch as the finding of fact arrived at is that various fixtures and furniture provided by the assessee to the tenant form the subject-matter of a separate agreement w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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