TMI Blog1979 (6) TMI 17X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... luer ? (2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in holding that the rental method had no validity in determining the value of the residential house ? " The question relates to the assessment to wealth-tax for the assessment year 1971-72, the relevant valuation date being March 31,1971. The assessee, among other properties, owned a residential house situate at Annaswamy Mudaliar Road, near Ulsoor Tank. She also owned another house in Rathna Vilas Road near Basavanagudi. So far as the Rathna Vilas Road property was concerned, the WTO initiated proceedings for reassessment. Such a proceeding was also taken in regard to another property situate at Madras. The assessee had furnished a valuer' ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... accordingly, reduced the valuation of both these properties. The department being aggrieved by this, preferred an appeal to the Tribunal. The Tribunal accepted the conclusion reached by the AAC so far as the Rathna Vilas Road property was concerned but disagreed with it in regard to the valuation of the other property and restored the value as had been determined by the WTO. It is in these circumstances that the question has arisen in regard to the valuation of the self-occupied property. The second question has been formulated as the Appellate Tribunal in its order made a categorical observation that "we do not agree with the AAC that the rental method has any validity in this case, since the property is self-occupied and is not let out ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d be let out, the authorities who have the duty to determine the value of the property cannot ignore the same altogether. It may be that in a particular case the rent fetched may not at all indicate the worth of the property, where there is other direct evidence about the value of the property as in the case decided by this court in the case of K. Bhoomaimma v. CED [1978] 115 ITR 703 (Ker). On the facts and in the circumstances of the instant case, the second question formulated above would really be academic in view of the final conclusion we are taking in this case on the first question. But as the question has been formulated in order to allay any doubts about the matter, we would answer the second question by saying that it would not be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... untenable and he totally ignored the valuation arrived at on the basis of the rental method. What the AAC did was to notice that the building would fall within the purview of the House Rent Control Act and according to the Corporation Regulations three times the area occupied by the building would also form part of the building, as being appurtenant to it, and in these circumstances an average of the two valuations that had been made by the valuer would be just and reasonable. The Tribunal accepted this principle in regard to the Rathna Vilas Road property but did not adopt it in regard to the self-occupied property. The only reason given is that the property was self-occupied and was not let out. This is no reason at all to forsake the pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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