TMI Blog1991 (2) TMI 8X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 57, exceed Rs. 1,50,000 ? 2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the house property at 7/1, Queens Park or a part thereof can be said to belong to the assessee within the meaning of section 5(1)(iv) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, where the assessee, admittedly, has only a life interest therein ? " Shortly stated, the facts are that the assessee, an individual, held Government securities on the respective valuation dates as follows : ----------------------------------------------- Valuation date Amount (Rs.) ----------------------------------------------- 31-3-1972 47,260 31-3-1973 50,020 31-3-1974 30,000 31-3-1975 20,000 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. Inasmuch as the facts for the year under consideration as well as the rival submissions of both the sides were identical to those which were the subjectmatter of the decision of the Tribunal for the assessment year 1972-73, the Tribunal confirmed the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner for these years also. The Tribunal held that if the assets include assets referred to in clause (xv) or clause (xvi), they are exempt over and above the overall limit of Rs. 1,50,000. The assessee had transferred his property situated at No. 7/1, Queens Park to the trustees of the trust which was brought into being by him, vide trust deed executed on August 28, 1951. The said trust was a revocable one. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... behalf of the assessee, the above submissions were resisted and reliance was placed on the aforesaid decision of this court. Apart from it, reference was made to the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of CED v. Estate of Late Sanka Simhachalam [1975] 99 ITR 370. The Tribunal, after considering the provisions of clause (iv) of sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and, after comparing them with the analogous provision contained in clause (n) of sub-section (1) of section 33 of the Estate Duty Act, held that the ratio of the aforesaid decision applied to the facts of the present case and, therefore, the assessee was entitled to relief under clause (iv) of sub-section (1) of section 5. The observations of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fice Savings Bank (Cumulative Time Deposits) Rules, 1959), to the extent the value thereof exceeds, in the aggregate, a sum of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees : Provided that where the assets include any assets referred to in clause (xv) or clause (xvi) not being deposits under the Post Office Savings Bank (Cumulative Time Deposits) Rules, 1959, which have been owned by the assessee continuously from a date prior to the 1st day of March, 1970, and the value of the assets so included exceeds the limit of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees by any amount, such limit shall be raised by the said amount. " Thus, it is expressly provided in section 5(1A) that nothing contained in sub-section (1) shall operate to exclude from the net wea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... yodhyanath (K S.) v. CWT [1983] 141 ITR 309 ; the Gujarat High Court in Digvijaysinhji (K S.) v. CWT [1983] 141 ITR 313 ; and the Madras High Court in Saroja Ravindran v. CWT [1989] 177 ITR 302. For the foregoing reasons, we answer the first question in the affirmative and in favour of the Revenue. So far as the second question is concerned, it is now concluded by the two decisions referred to by the Tribunal. The first decision is of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in CED v. Estate of Late Sanka Simhachalam [1975] 99 ITR 370. In that case, the court was concerned with the interpretation of the words " belonging to " used in section 33(1) of the Estate Duty Act. In that case, the deceased had executed a settlement retaining life interest ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (n) came up for consideration. Under section 33, no estate duty is payable in respect of several kinds of properties " belonging to " the deceased enumerated therein. One of such properties is one house or part thereof exclusively used by the deceased for his residence to the extent specified in clause (n) of section 33(1). Life interest in the residential house was treated as an asset belonging to the assessee. In our view, there is no reason for different treatment of such interest for wealth-tax, the provisions of the two Acts, the Wealth-tax Act and the Estate Duty Act, in the matter, being in pari materia. In fiscal statutes, unless the context otherwise warrants, the same expression should be assigned same meaning occurring in differe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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