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TMI Blog1987 (3) TMI 95X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ribunal is right in law in holding that the transfer of shares effected by the assessee in favour of the donees in 1961 with an obligation to retransfer in 1969 (the same has been complied with) is irrevocable and that the shares are not assessable in the hands of the assessee ? " The assessment years in question are 1965-66 to 1968-69. The Wealth-tax Officer in computing the net wealth of the assessee included certain assets being shares in companies transferred by her to her parents-in-law under two instruments both dated March 24, 1961. The very same instruments had been the subject-matter of consideration in the earlier assessment years and had been treated as effecting an irrevocable transfer entitling the assessee to exclude the ite ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny time, whether before or after the expiry of the requisite period. We shall now read the relevant provisions as they stood prior to April 1, 1965, and subsequently. The material part of section 4(1), as it stood before the amendment, read : " 4. 'Net wealth to include certain assets.-(1) In computing the net wealth of an individual, there shall be included, as belonging to him (a) the value of assets which on the valuation date are held-... (iv) by a person or association of persons to whom such assets have been transferred by the individual otherwise than under an irrevocable transfer .......... Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, the expression 'transfer' includes any disposition, trust, covenant, agreement or arran ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (ii) in any way gives the transferor a right to reassume power, directly or indirectly, over the whole or any part of the assets or income therefrom. " (emphasis supplied) The question is whether the Explanation is merely clarificatory, or, whether it has brought about a fundamental change in the concept of irrevocable transfer for the purpose of section 4(1)(a)(iv). Counsel for the Revenue submits that the whole concept has been altered by the insertion of clauses (i) and (ii) of the Explanation, as a result of which, according to him, any provision for retransfer or reassumption, whether before or after the expiry of the prescribed period, invalidated the instrument as an " irrevocable transfer " for the purpose of the Act. We do not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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